What the Gods Fear
by NotCras
Summary: Everything is going well for Shepard and the crew. He has moved on from his inner struggle and has started a family with Liara. As they explore the galaxy, they realize that a new conspiracy threatens the galactic government that Shepard himself created. Sequel series to From the Ashes.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's note:** So dear readers, I HAVE NOT FORGOTTEN YOU! This is the sequel series to From the Ashes, and although it is a sequel, there are some things that have changed. My chapters will be shorter this time as I work on making the story more like a novel. That will make the story go slower, but taht will allow me to focus on much more than just the story... or at least that's what I want to do. I'm still learning how to write, and I hope that everything I post just gets better and better.

This story is going to focus not just on the mystery/story/adventure, but also of other things such as Liara's relationship with Shiala, Shepard's new relationship with his bondmate, the crew as usual, and some other stuff. I really hope I do a good job.

For those that like Legend of Korra, that fan fic that I stopped updating is finished but just being edited... long story on that one.

Well anyway, here is the story. I love reviews!

_Bioware owns everything except the story. Thats MINE!_

* * *

_'Normandy requesting shuttle docking in hangar bay six. Are we clear to land?'_

*static*

_'Shepard, you hear that? All I'm getting is static... I just can't get used to that. It's just... creepy.'_

_'Their comms could be knocked out, Joker. We should still check the colony out for survivors. The shuttle is leaving now.'_

_'Aye aye.'_

* * *

Shepard watched the monitor as the shuttle made its way down to the colony hangar bay. The shuttle rocked as it hit the atmosphere. The planet was mostly covered in water, with the colony located on a large island. Soon in the distance, they could see the shine of metallic structures. Gradually as the shuttle approached the structures got larger and larger, finally revealing themselves to be the colony that they were looking for. All the feed showed was destruction. Buildings with gaping holes and rubble were common sight, and occasionally a dead body made an appearance. Reaper troops, disgusting abominations, lay where they stood when the crucible's EMP wave hit the planet. These colonists were lucky; Shepard had visited two colonies before this, and both populations had died when the EMP wave knocked out their life support. Unlike the other colonies, this planet was able to sustain life without any help. _So there is still hope._Shepard thought to himself.

Shepard leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes. He would nap for a short time before they landed. Lately they had landed on countless colonies, and the work was finally starting to get to him. It was not long before he felt arms wrap around him and a head touch down on his shoulder. He didn't need to open his eyes to know who it was. He felt a kiss on his cheek.

"What if there are actual living people in this colony? Do we have all the supplies the council gave us?" Liara whispered gently into his ear.

"We do. I loaded it myself." Shepard responded with his eyes still closed. It was clear he was enjoying the moment.

"There were lot of supplies, I could have helped."

"Well you were busy with the baby and the reaper synthetics need to start making up for what they did."

Liara laughed. "Well after they tried to kill us and take over the galaxy, they deserve to be put to work." She brought her head back onto his shoulder. "Just think, after you complete this mission we could retire." She snuggled her head against his shoulder, enjoying his comfort.

"But don't you think I should be retiring already?" Shepard replied. He wanted to retire immediately and make a family with Liara. He brought together the galaxy to defeat the reapers, wasn't that enough?

"You tell me, you were the one that signed yourself up for it." Liara teased with a chuckle.

Shepard grunted. It was more complicated than that. Before he left Earth he gave the council a plan of reconstruction for the galaxy. It was a simple one, made by the collaboration of his squad; start reconstruction at the largest planets and fix them to a point where they can work on themselves, and then move on to the smaller settlements and colonies. But when he had presented it, the council asked where he fit into the equation. He couldn't just tell them that he would be leaving galactic politics. That would hurt their resolve; they needed to feel that the great Shepard had their backs. So on the spot Shepard made a small revision to the plan; The Normandy would be supplied up and sent to help alleviate the smallest of colonies, those that needed the relief the most, since it would take a large amount of time to fix the largest planets. That way no one was left in the dark for long. And so before they left, the council loaded the ship up with supplies and sent them to fix the colonies. At least they would leave Shepard alone for the most part.

The shuttle rocked and knocked Shepard back into the present. He kissed Liara on the crest, her head still on his shoulder. "Vega, how close are we?"

"About 15 minutes to touch down." Vega responded.

"Good, only 15 more minutes of worrying if you'll crash the shuttle."

"Hey, my flying is smooth as butter, loco. You fell asleep. I think that's settles it." Vega laughed.

"I didn't fall asleep." Shepard smiled, wanting to give Vega a hard time.

"Well you closed your eyes. Close enough."

* * *

The shuttle pulled into the small colony hangar easily. It touched down gently, much to Vega's pride. Everyone put on their helmets and got out of the shuttle.

"Alright, we stick together and search for survivors. Got it?" Shepard ordered looking at the others. There were five of them, each with their own duties to fulfill should there be life in the colony. Vega was there for protection, Tali was there to implement the Donnely kick start procedure to bring power back to the colony, Javik was there to use his prothean sense to find survivors, Liara was there for consultation, and finally Shepard was there to lead them just like he always did.

They set off out of the hangar without delay. Upon exiting the hangar, they beheld the destruction viewed on the view screen first hand.

"This place was hit hard." Vega commented.

"Keelah... Maybe the Reapers wiped out this colony before the crucible even fired." Tali suggested.

"That is not the case." Javik remarked, his ever superior tone highlighting what was really on his mind: _Primatives._

"Pick up something, Javik?" Shepard replied, eager for some news of survivors.

"I feel the presence of several turians here scavenging for parts. They were searching for things that they can use..." He began to walk away from the group. "Most of them came from over here." The others followed his closely as if he was a dog following a trail. Javik led the group down several abandoned streets and through wrecked buildings. Then he stopped just as abruptly as he had started.

"Hello? Is there anyone here?" Shepard yelled, taking initiative. "I am Commander Shepard; I am here to help you!"

They heard rocks shift to their left. They caught a single male turian in his tracks. The clothes he wore were torn and ragged. He looked weak and delirious. He did not move.  
"Hello?" Vega asked, cautiously raising his rifle at the turian. Shepard took a step forwards, and immediately the turian bolted away.

"STOP!" Shepard yelled. "We only want to help you!"

The turian did not answer but continued to run. Shepard's synthetics brought him closer and closer to the turian. Finally he got close enough to tackle the turian to the ground.  
"Why are you running?" Shepard asked the fallen turian as he brought himself to his feet. "We are trying to help."

The turian panted, refusing to get up. "No you're not. You're trying to bring us out to let the reapers kill us. I know how the reapers work."

"I'm not indoctrinated." Shepard answered.

"That's what Turak told us too. But he betrayed us. I KNOW HOW YOU REAPERS WORK." The turian yelled. Shepard could see a fanatical look in his eyes, it told the terrible story of the colony. The reapers had left their mark on this colony.

Shepard looked around at the rest of the squad, and looked back at the turian. "Is there any way that I can convince you that we are not indoctrinated?"

The turian looked up at Shepard, obviously surprised at what he spoke. He hesitated as he weighed his options. "Only someone who's not indoctrinated would leave this planet."  
It was now Shepard's turn to be surprised. But it made sense to Shepard; if they truly weren't indoctrinated, then they would have no reason to come down to the colony, at least the turian thought so.

Shepard looked into the turian's eyes. "Ok we will." He responded. Shepard turned to leave.

Liara caught his arm. "What are you doing? We need to help these people!" She whispered.  
"We still are." He replied, putting his arm around her shoulder and leading her away. He motioned to the others to follow. "What we are going to do is unload the shuttle's supplies and leave it behind. That way there won't be any confrontation, and the colonists here will slowly realize that the reapers are gone."

"But we can't leave them like that!" Liara reasoned.

"Will they give us any other way to help them? For all we know all the colonists are just like this turian. They won't let us help them."

Liara went silent. "Just think of how my people got so uptight with the geth when in reality they wanted peace this whole time." Tali mentioned. "It's the same thing; we just need to give them time and they will see that we meant no harm."

Soon they got back to the hangar and began unloading the supplies. Between the five of them, they quickly unloaded the shuttle, placing the supplies outside the hangar in plain sight. Tali and Vega left to restart the colony's power. Shepard, Javik, and Liara waited patiently outside.

Shepard's head began to pound as he experienced a painful headache. It was the thorian's spores as work again inside his body. He brought his hand to his head as the pain got intense, but it soon subsided. The lights in the hangar flickered on, and the light hurt his eyes. He shut them tight and brought his head down to face the floor.

"Shepard, are you alright?" Liara came closer to inspect her bondmate.

"Yeah I'm fine." He told her. They were getting more manageable and less painful; the first spore induced headaches had left Shepard out for days. Liara wrapped her arms around him and held him as they waited for Tali and Vega.

It was a while until they returned however. Vega was covered in the distinctive blue turian blood. "They didn't like what we were doing to the generator, so they attacked." He reported.

"But Vega fought them off and we got the generator online." Tali added, motioning to the lights. "Now we should get out of here before they attack again."

Quickly they took Tali's advice and boarded the shuttle. They left the hangar and made their way back to the Normandy.

_'How did it go, colony team?' _Joker's voice came up on the comm.

"Well we sure have a story for you." Shepard responded into the microphone.

Joker laughed. '_Well can't wait to hear it. Normandy out.'_


	2. Chapter 2

After the shuttle was safely back in the cargo bay and Shepard filled out the debriefing paperwork on the mission, Shepard felt his body yearn for sleep. Getting up from his desk in his cabin, he walked over to his bedroom and plopped onto his bed without so much as a thought. Soon he felt another body enter the bed, and instinctively he put his arms around it. It was none other than Liara.

"You know, when you fall asleep easy, she always sleeps easy too." Liara mentioned, referring to Shiala, the baby asari that Shepard had fathered. She lay in a crib next to the couch in the cabin.

"Well, we are linked with the thorian spores..." Shepard kissed her crest and brought his body close to share warmth.

"Do you think the link is that strong?"

Shepard hesitated. "I... I don't know. We will have to find that out."

Liara kissed him on the cheek and they snuggled together under the covers. Sleep began to take them both, however they were interrupted by the cries of baby Shiala from her crib. Shepard groaned into the pillow; it seemed that every night she awoke with some need.

"She's your daughter, you get her." Liara teased.

Mumbling to himself, Shepard left the comfort and warmth of the sheets and Liara. He made his way over to the crib located near the couch and coffee table. The cute little green face of his asari daughter looked up at him. Shepard couldn't resist and picked her up from the crib. The baby began to coo and giggle as Shepard held her. It seemed that she had only gotten lonely.

"Poor girl, all alone in her crib." Shepard told the now happy baby, kissing her on the forehead. "Let's go to mommy to sleep." He brought the baby over to the bed, placing her next to Liara and taking up his usual spot. Then he put his arms around the two asari that he loved and settled in.

The baby fell asleep immediately next to her father, however Shepard did not fall asleep so easily. He had been forced awake from the baby and needed to lull himself back to sleep. Looking over to his bondmate, he could tell that she was experiencing the same thing.

"Mommy?" She asked, looking down at the baby.

"She may not be your baby, but you're still the mother Liara. Shiala needs a mother."

Liara did not answer immediately. "I... I can't. I don't know what being a mother is like."

"Well I don't know what being a father is like."

"But you are being an amazing one anyway." Liara looked away, gazing up at the stars through the ceiling window.

"I love her, Liara. And if you love her you will be an amazing mother too."

"But she's not my daughter, Shepard."

"Stop saying that and she can be." He answered, getting a little frustrated with her reluctance.

Liara turned her gaze back to Shepard, who was looking down at his baby girl. Little Shiala was curled up into a little ball in between the two of them. Her little green face looked so peaceful and innocent; it was no wonder why Shepard loved her so much.

"Shepard, did you love Shiala?"

The words flew out of her mouth before she could put down such a question in her mind. Seeing Shepard loving another, even though it was a baby, made Liara feel vulnerable. Were there others that he loved? Shepard didn't answer her question for some time as he debated what to say. Liara was starting to assume the worst.

"I... I don't know if I did." He answered finally. "I don't really know why I did half the stuff I did when I had gone renegade. Shiala sacrificed herself to save me and I can't forget that. I can't let our child, the one that she would have loved dearly, grow up alone. Not after what the first Shiala did for me. It's almost like it's my atonement for what I did." He sighed. "Liara, you are still the love of my life, and always will be until the day I die. But I will also love my children 'til I die as well." He looked down at Shiala. "Will you be her mother? It's not her fault that she exists, its mine. Don't place the blame on her."

Liara could not deny her bondmate, nor could she deny the little girl laying in the middle. "I'll try." She answered.

Shepard pulled her head closer and kissed her on the forehead. He put his head on the pillow and closed his eyes, trying hard to fall asleep. In no time his breathing steadied and his muscles relaxed as his mind drifted to sleep. Liara on the other hand did not try to fall asleep; instead she watched her bondmate sleep, his breathing deep and regular, as she entertained thoughts that bounced inside her head. She could feel little baby Shiala cuddling up against her chest, and she was brought out of those thoughts._ Well, I guess it's a start._ She thought as the baby found a comfortable position against her chest. She could feel the baby's regular breathing against her chest, soon lulling her into sleep as well.

* * *

After a day of travelling, the Normandy reached the next system. Two colonies were located there, an asari colony on a lush mountainous world, and an extremely small human mining colony on a volcanic world. The asari colony had a higher chance of survival they reasoned, so the Normandy headed there first.

Alliance colony rescue procedure made it clear that the rescue ship had to open comms and try to contact the colony before sending a team down. Joker hailed the colony to no avail; their only answer was static and grunts of frustration from the Normandy team._ Why couldn't it ever be easy?_ Shepard thought.

He quickly donned his armor and headed down to the cargo bay shuttle. There the team was waiting for him, this time with Ashley as the guard and Garrus as consultant. Liara did not come because she was never able to stand the sight of destroyed asari colonies after what she saw on Thessia. Furthermore it allowed her to spend more time with Shiala. The shuttle departed the ship and made its way planetside.

* * *

After they had broken through the atmosphere yet again, Shepard watched the monitor for signs of life, but there were none. In no time the shuttle reached the colony. Dead bodies of asari and reaper troops were scattered all over the rubble and wreckage. What were once elegant buildings were now piles of rubble. Scorch marks and large craters suggested that a reaper capital ship had made a visit to the colony.

With no standing structures or any visible hangars, the shuttle touched down in a clearing. The squad exited and looked around the colony. The colony seemed pretty dead to Shepard.

"Javik, you get anything with your prothean sense?" He asked.

Javik stood where he was, as if digesting information. "There were some asari that survived the reaper attack." He spoke.

"Where did they go? Do you know if they are still alive?"

"No, I do not know that. But I think I know where they went."

Javik walked around as if retracing steps. The squad followed him as he walked over rubble and past decaying bodies. He stopped at the remains of what seemed to be the center of the colony. Most of the other buildings seemed to be temporary, but it seemed that this center one was built to last. Its foundations were still rooted firmly in the ground, but they were covered in rubble.

Javik walked out onto the rubble to find a small clearing in the center of the rubble. It seemed unnatural that a small part of the floor would have been clean, and the squad investigated it. Javik didn't even need to say anything; even their primitive minds could understand that something was up. Shepard ran his hands along the floor to search for a door. Tali did a sweep with her omni tool. A beep from her omni tool meant that she found something.

"I think I might have found a trigger for a vault of some kind. Give me a moment to hack the mechanism." Quickly Tali got to work. Soon they could hear something from the floor, and soon one of the tiles gave way to reveal a ladder leading into the foundations. Shepard led the way down the ladder and into the darkness.

* * *

At the bottom of the ladder was a small hallway. At the end of it was a door that had been manually pulled apart. They walked through the door into a large underground room. It was dark except for a flickering light of a small fire in the center of the room. They could make out weapon racks and armor stations along the wall; it was clear that this room had some military importance. At the far end of the room were couches around a deactivated view screen. They could see heads poking out from the couch suggesting that several asari were on the couches. They could not tell if the asari were living or not.

"Hello?" Garrus called out. There was no answer.

As they came closer they heard a murmuring coming from the couch area. To their astonishment they beheld five asari that were still alive, huddling together on the floor past the couch and murmuring to themselves. They paid no heed to the new arrivals; instead they kept to their murmurings. They were dressed in armor that could only be that of asari commandoes. It became clear that this room was a bunker for commandoes stationed on the planet.

"Hello?" Shepard waved a hand in front of one of the asari's faces. They didn't react.

"What are they saying?" Tali asked.

"I don't know." Shepard responded. He came even closer so that he might hear better.

"They came but did not help. They did not want us." He heard, repeated over and over. He wondered who they were talking about.

Shepard put his hand on one of their shoulders. "Don't worry, we are here to help." The asari jumped at his hand. Shepard gave her a firm squeeze, hoping it would calm her down.

"GET AWAY!" Quickly and with intense desperation the asari scurried away on the floor. Shepard took a step forward. "You're just like them!" He heard a pistol being taken from its holster and activated. One of the other asari had taken aim at Shepard with her pistol. The squad readied their weapons and charged their shields expecting a fight. Upon seeing the shields, the commando began firing, her aim demonstrating her skills as a commando. Soon the others drew pistols as well.

Shepard took cover on the other side of the couch as the rest of the squad moved behind pillars and desks. The commandoes were constantly firing; when one changed clips, the others were shooting to cover her. Therefore they were able to keep a steady stream of bullets going on the squad.

"I can't get a shot!" Ashley yelled from a pillar.

"Maybe we don't need to get a shot." Shepard answered from the couch. One of the asari was directly on the other side of Shepard. Taking an initial quick peek, Shepard grabbed the commando and threw her to the ground. Using his omniblade, he ended the asari's life with a quick thrust.

"YOU SAID YOU WOULD HELP AND YOU ARE NOT." One of the asari yelled. "YOU ARE JUST LIKE THEM!"

Two of the asari flared up in the distinctive blue aura of biotics.

"Shit, they've got biotics!" Ashley warned.

Soon furniture flew around the room. Garrus was hit with a biotic throw, flying out of his cover. A commando took initiative and began firing on Garrus. However Shepard quickly took the commando out.

"They can't keep it up forever!" Shepard yelled. "We just need to distract them!"

"I'm on it." Tali answered. Her omnitool came to life on her arm, and she activated her combat drone in the midst of the asari formation. Their attention was diverted, allowing the squad to take out another commando. Garrus scrambled back to his cover.

**FOOOM!**

It took a moment for the squad to realize what had happened. The other two commandoes lay dead on the floor, having been taken out by one of Javik's lift grenades. With the danger having passed, everyone put their weapons away and inspected the scene.

Past the couch they could make out more bodies; more asari whose faces were twisted in pain from what seemed to be starvation. Their bodies were extremely thin and frail; Shepard could not imagine the pain that they were in when they died. Starvation was a terrible way to go.

"Maybe they were indoctrinated." Shepard theorized. "Or just ran out of supplies."

"Then why would they hide down here? If the reapers came and they were indoctrinated, they would still welcome them. So if they were indoctrinated they would be dead." Garrus came to Shepard's side to view the other bodies. "Shit, that's bad... If they starved to death, then they wouldn't be talking about people coming to help."

"What about Cerberus?" Tali suggested from another side of the room.

"But there are reaper troops up above, not Cerberus soldiers." Garrus debated. "I'd expect some Cerberus casualties if they were here."

"Could Cerberus have come after the Reapers?" Ashley came to Shepard's other side. "Or worse, maybe they started killing the asari."

"No, I think the reapers were killed by the crucible blast, so Cerberus could not have come after them." Shepard thought. "Unless there are still cells of Cerberus around in action…"

"The Illusive man was what held Cerberus together. When he died so did Cerberus." Garrus stated.

"Well then I'm beat." Ashley resigned.

"So am I." Tali added.

"We should check out the other colony. Could be something that could help us make sense of this here. Shepard suggested as he led them out of the bunker to the surface.


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's note:** _AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHH _

_Guys, I'm so sorry for being so late with this update. All I can say is that school started again, and I just need to find my rhythm with schoolwork and other stuff again. I think I will be shooting out chapters every weekend, but we shall see._ _I just need to get a hold of my work then I'll be golden. _

_Things continue to get stranger in the story, do you think Shepard's suspicions are right? Do you think Liara and Shiala will ever bond? Have you missed some steamy Shep-Liara action?_

_I would like to know! I write for you guys!_

_Just a little warning as well, its starting out a little slow, but don't worry it will pick up and be great. Just trust me on this one._

* * *

Shepard watched from the cockpit as the Normandy approached the next colony. It was a small human mining colony located on a volcanic world. Shepard had serious doubts about any survivors due to the nature of the world; if the EMP wave hit it, heat shields and life support would be down. There was very little chance of survival. But Shepard hoped that maybe something at that colony could explain what happened at the other one.

Joker opened up comms, as was standard procedure.

"I don't really know why we do this if the comms are all out anyway, but here's a shout-out to any survivors on mining colony X524. This is the Normandy. Again is anyone there?" Joker spoke into the console. He brought his hand to shut off the comms.

"Mining colony X524 reading you loud and clear, Normandy."

Shepard's eyes widened and Joker's hand stopped over the button abruptly. Slowly Joker's head turned to look at Shepard. Nothing was said; their eyes told everything. _Was the colony actually answering? _

"Hello? Normandy, do you read?"

The shock subsided and Joker got back to the comms.

"Hello there X524. Requesting permission to dock shuttle… Do you require any assistance? How come your comms are up?" Joker responded, the surprise apparent in his voice.

"Permission granted, we do require a little assistance down here." The colony responded. "And don't we need comms up?"

That was all Shepard needed to hear. "Tali, Vega, and Garrus, report to the cargo bay immediately." He spoke over the ship intercom. "We just made contact with the mining colony." Then he sprinted to the elevator to get to the cargo bay.

* * *

Shepard felt the familiar shake of the shuttle as it hit the atmosphere. The atmosphere was thicker than most planets here, so the shaking persisted for a little longer than usual.

He was very impatient; he wanted to see how the colony survived and kept their tech. Was it something with the planet or their equipment? There was almost no chance of survival without tech of some kind on the planet. It all puzzled Shepard, but he knew that he would have to wait to get his answers.

The monitor revealed a hostile planet of lava geysers and jagged peaks. Volcanoes were scattered about adding some variety to the multiple rocks and lava fields. Taking aside the violence of the lava, the planet was rather boring. Shepard turned his attention away from the monitor and looked at the squad. Everyone sat quietly, lost in their own thoughts.

"Approaching the colony." Vega stated from the cockpit. Everyone shifted to the monitor again to see the structure.

The main colony hub was located between two large peaks raising high above the lava. A landing pad extended from the main colonial structure for shuttles and mining ships. The colony itself was nothing special, large reflective heat absorbers ran along the outside. A single shaft for mining robots ran down to the lava below.

Shepard and the squad donned their helmets. They left the shuttle and ran inside to escape the sweltering heat. Their armor was able to stand heat, but they did a bad job at keeping the heat out. Within seconds each was running a sweat. For likewise reasons the shuttle pulled away back to the Normandy.

The inside of the colony was a stark contrast to the simple exterior. It was divided in two, with complex machinery and consoles for mining on the left side, and living quarters on the right. The rooms were defined by two glass walls that made a small corridor in the middle. At the end of the corridor opposite to the entrance was an access hatch, presumably leading to the shaft that the robots use to mine.

The Normandy squad met with the crew of the colony: 5 men that worked the machinery and did repairs to keep the mining operation going.

"Command Shepard. It is such an honor to actually meet you." One of the men stepped forward and extended his hand. His uniform suggested that he was in charge. Shepard took it and gave a smile.

"I'm flattered." He responded. "You have me at a disadvantage."

"I'm head engineer Kenson. I'm in charge of the rig here."

"Nice to meet you." It was strange. Everything looked in order, as if the emp wave did not hit the planet. "What was the thing you needed assistance with?" Shepard added, looking around at the working facility.

"Well, the router for our wireless robot control is down; the one that the Council relief force gave us was faulty."

"Wait a sec... I thought WE were the Council relief force." Vega muttered.

"So did I." Shepard agreed, crossing his arms.

"Oh no, the Council has helped many assets and tiny colonies like us. We were actually the last stop on their tour of several colonies and outposts."

"Assets? Tour? I don't get it. We are the ones that were tasked with helping them." Shepard stated.

"I don't know what you are talking about Commander. The rescue vessel even had documentation signed by the new council... it was very official." The man spoke.

"Then I think I need to talk to the council." Shepard was very confused. What happened to his plan for reconstruction? What were they doing with the other colonies?

"Citadel relief force or not, how did you survive on this colony when the emp wave hit?" Tali took charge of the conversation for more info.

The engineer smiled, full of pride. "This planet is very violent, sometimes we will get intense lightning storms that will knock out power, so this facility was built to survive without any power." He looked back at the consoles and equipment. "The emp wave took out our electronics and we suffered some damage from the short out and a vehicle crash, but our heat shield did not suffer much damage, and we have enough food to last a year, so it was almost standard procedure for us."

"In other words, you were really lucky." Vega joked. The head engineer chuckled.

Shepard sent an order to the Normandy for the shuttle and the parts they needed from his omni tool. Then he turned his attention to the head engineer. "Sorry for the confusion, it just seems that we were left out of the loop. Our shuttle will come with the part very soon."

The head engineer nodded his appreciation. "Thank you very much Commander."

Shepard returned the nod and turned to the exit. They ran outside into the shuttle which quickly lifted off. As the shuttle made its way back to the Normandy, confusion hung in the air as everyone tried to make sense of this new information. The council was supposed to be overseeing the massive reconstruction of major colony planets of all species. There was no way that they were done with such an enormous task so soon; the reapers were incredibly thorough in their destruction. The reconstruction of Earth had taken about a year.

"So why is the council getting involved in our mission?" Vega asked, breaking the silence in the shuttle.

"I don't know." Shepard responded. "I thought they would need all their resources to deal with the larger colonies."

"Maybe they're not." Garrus added. "Who knows what they could be doing, we send progress updates to them, not the other way around."

"Then maybe it's time they send us an update." Shepard stated.

* * *

The shadow lair was much quieter since the Normandy's last adventure. It welcomed the broker and her bond mate gladly; enticing feeds bickered for the broker's attention and glyph, the broker's information drone, flew about them in the air. However the duo did not stop, heading for the communications control at the other end of the room. Liara went to the console to initiate contact while Shepard quietly stood in position awaiting the line of communication with the council to open.

Soon the serious and annoyed face of human councilor Tim Hansen materialized in blue light. He was a stocky man, physically the opposite of Udina. Despite the physical differences they shared the same political outlook; humanity came first. Since he was to be the representative of the human race, such an outlook was necessary for the job, which is why Shepard chose him. Udina was never truly evil, just desperate for humanity's sake. Also, since Cerberus didn't exist anymore, there was no reason to worry about an uprising at the moment.

"Commander Shepard, what a surprise, the council isn't in session so you can only talk to me. Is there a problem with your mission?" He began, seemingly annoyed with this interruption. Even though the man had a Dutch accent as opposed to Scottish, Shepard couldn't help but hear Udina in the councilor's voice.

"Yes there is a problem. You're apparently doing my job for me." Shepard crossed his arms and leaned a little back on one of his legs. "I came across a mining station that your 'council rescue force' came to help. How come you never told me about this? Are you done helping the larger colonies?"

The councilor sighed and brought his hand to his forehead. "Shepard, it was on our way to working on Illium and we couldn't let them just sit there. I understand that you are upset that we took some of your-"

"Then why did they say it was the last stop on their tour?" Shepard gave an angry look. "They were pretty clear that they were helping smaller colonies."

"… On their way to Illium, that's what I was saying Shepard." The councilor took back the conversation. "We weren't going to just leave colonies alone when we were passing through..."

"But you're using the mass relays. How would that matter? There's a mass relay right next to Illium you could have used."

"Shepard, you're looking into this too much."

"Councilor you were tasked with providing help to the larger colonies while we help the smallest ones. It was to provide for the quickest way to get the galaxy back on track." Liara joined in, stepping into the circle to show herself to the councilor. "Why are you deviating from that plan? Once we get Illium back in order then you can use it as a hub to help the smaller colonies."

"We wanted to give some immediate relief to some of the colonies in the area." The councilor rebutted.

"Then what about the asari colony that you passed by in the same system?" Shepard again added.

"It was a dead colony Shepard."

"There were survivors; if you actually looked you would have found them."

"Searching would have taken too much time, which you yourself said was important." A sly smile came up on the councilor's face. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have a meeting that I need to attend." The councilor disappeared, leaving Shepard and Liara alone in the comm room.

"He's hiding something." Liara mentioned. "I can just feel it."

Shepard did not respond, his mind on other things. Something that he himself had said made something click in his mind. _There were survivors, if you actually looked you would have found them._ he thought. He thought back to the asari commandoes in their sorry state. _"They came but did not help. They did not want us." _Maybe they did come and search the planet. Maybe it was they who didn't help the commandoes…

"Shepard? Are you alright?" Liara was telling him.

"Liara, what if it was the relief force that were the ones who would not help the asari back at the colony?"

Liara paused as she thought about it. "I don't know about that Shepard, that's a pretty lofty accusation to be making of the council. Why wouldn't they help a colony?"  
"But Liara, the council could be swayed. You at least agree that the councilor was acting suspiciously."

Liara nodded. "Yes I do, but then again you could just be looking into it too much..." She sighed. "The councilor did make some sense… maybe they saw the crazed asari and decided that they were gone and moved on."

"Liara if he had something to hide, of course he was going to have a cover story that would make sense!"

"He is a politician Shepard; maybe there were some things that he wasn't at liberty to say."

"But I'm Commander Shepard! Why should they need to hide it from me!"

"Shepard, maybe you are starting to miss the fame and privileges that you had during the reaper war… but that's over now."

Shepard turned red. "How could you accuse me of that? I made that council!"

Liara put her hand on his shoulder and pulled him close. "Shepard, the galaxy doesn't need you anymore... The reapers are gone. But I need you. You don't need to get pulled into galactic politics again."

"Maybe the galaxy doesn't know that it still needs me." Shepard turned away from her.  
"Shepard..." Liara tried to approach him again.

"Not now Liara. I need some time alone." He left the comm room in silence.

Liara sighed. Maybe he just needs some time alone to just accept that. She left the room and entered the elevator, pushing the button for the crew level. Garrus had wired the elevators to play elevator music as a sort of practical joke and nostalgia trip. All Liara could do was shudder at the terrible music and remember the days of taking down Saren. Back then things were simpler…

The doors opened to the crew floor and Liara made her way to the starboard observation port. She could hear Shiala fussing behind the door. Back then things were MUCH simpler.

Liara entered the room to a chaotic scene. Ashley was holding the crying baby Shiala while Kasumi and Tali tried to cheer the baby up with toys and singing. Liara couldn't help but laugh.

"Oh look Shiala, Mommy's here!" Ashley showed Liara to the baby. She continued to cry and wail. _I'm actually not her mommy._Liara thought to herself. Nonetheless she took the baby from Ashley and bounced her up and down.

"Nothing will calm her down. We tried everything." Tali reported.

"I don't think it's on her end. Shepard is a little... on edge right now after we talked to the human councilor." Liara theorized. "And you know, their connection..."

The others nodded. "Poor girl, she can't help it then." Ashley sympathized.

"Maybe when she's older she'll be able to control it better." Kasumi added.

"I sure hope so." Liara hoped.

The baby began to calm down, cuddling up in Liara's arms and closing her eyes. Liara left the three "aunts" and went back to the elevator so that she might put the baby away in the crib in their cabin. The elevator doors closed and Liara punched the button for the captain's cabin. The elevator music began to chime again, but it abruptly stopped.

"Shepard has set a course for Illium, Liara. Judging from your argument earlier I felt that you should be consulted before I have Joker set the course." EDI's voice chimed in from the speaker overhead.

"Shepard just needs some time to get over our argument from before. Maybe seeing Illium under construction will help with that." Liara decided.

"Most peculiar that you would allow it even though it is a decision based on no factual evidence." EDI's voice responded.

"But it will force him to see the facts EDI." Liara mentioned. "Sometimes we need to learn the hard way."

"I see. Thank you Liara."

The elevator reached the captain's floor and the doors opened. She could hear the sounds of the shower in use. Liara placed the baby in the cradle. The shower shut off and Shepard came out of the bathroom with a towel around his waist.

"So you set a course for Illium." She began.

"Yes I did. I am convinced that we could find out why they really did it if we consult the people on Illium." He made his way to the armor locker and pulled out his shirt, pants, and N7 sweatshirt.

"Shepard, this is not about who's right and wrong. I care for you and I don't want you to go on some wild hunt for nothing." She came up behind him as he was putting his shirt on. Her arms made their way around his chest, preventing the shirt from getting on. "I love you, you know. It'd be nice to spend more time with you." She added, putting her head against his back. "This is not how I expected we would be spending our time together after beating the reapers."

He chuckled. "I love you too Liara and this is only temporary." He twisted in her embrace so that he faced her. He brought her head up by the chin and locked lips with hers. She accepted it, bringing her arms around his neck. Shepard broke off the kiss after holding it for a little bit. "It's just I killed the council and messed everything up. I feel responsible to help them."

"Well you can forget about the galaxy every once in a while." Liara responded. "What about me? You hurt me too."

"I guess I have a lot of making up to do." Shepard pushed his face into hers, pushing her back onto the bed. "Starting now."

Liara bit her lip and smiled. Playfully she knocked the towel off of Shepard's waist. In retaliation Shepard grabbed her legs and pulled her pants off. Soon both were naked and on the bed, their bodies intertwined, fused together. The sounds of passion and pleasure filled the room as the stars looked down upon them from the ceiling window.


	4. Chapter 4

"We are reaching Illium in two hours." Shepard awoke to EDI's voice overhead. Liara stirred, her naked body resting partially on top his.

"Thanks EDI." Shepard responded as he pulled the covers off to get up. Liara however, had others ideas.

"You don't need to go just yet." She pushed down on his chest to keep him from rising. "We have two hours, stay with me a little longer."

Shepard did not protest and turned on his side to face his bondmate. They cuddled for a short time. It was an almost perfect moment.

Suddenly Shepard felt a sharp pain in his head, giving him the feeling that it would explode. Shiala began to cry and Shepard held his head trying to fight the pain. He peeled away from their embrace as he curled into a ball. Soon the pain began to dull, and after a few minutes it went away fully.

"We need to get you help." Liara ran a hand through his hair with a concerned look on her face. "They look so painful."

"How do we even know that we can cure it?" Shepard answered. Now fully awake, he left the bed and picked up the whimpering baby to calm her down. Holding her in his arms, Shepard felt as if he were holding a part of him. He could feel her breathing in his arms, but also could feel the feeling of breathing within her. From the bed, Liara could see the intense connection that the spores in their bloodstream gave them.

"We will find one Shepard." She spoke, but it fell on deaf ears. She had the feeling that maybe he didn't want to be cured; the headaches were just a price to pay to being extremely close to his daughter. The daughter that wasn't hers.

Soon Shiala began to squeal as Shepard played with her, his attention fully into the child. Realizing that he was lost to the baby, Liara got out of bed and got changed, and threw Shepard's clothes on the bed for him to use later. She headed downstairs to eat, ignoring Shepard's invitations to play with Shiala.

* * *

But she could not evade the duo for long. Shepard and the baby soon came down to the mess hall as Liara was in the middle of her breakfast. The moment the baby entered the room, the 'aunts' squealed and pulled the baby from his arms.

Shepard then sat right next to his bondmate. He intertwined his hand in hers and gave her a peck on the cheek. But Liara didn't want that right now. She let her hand go limp and did not return the kiss.

"Are you ok?" Shepard asked, a little tease in his voice.

"I'm fine Shepard." She answered, taking another bite of her breakfast.

Shepard inspected her from his seat, as if he was trying to read her mind. "I know there's something up Liara."

Behind them the baby began to laugh as someone began to tickle her. Shepard immediately spun around in the chair to see the act in progress, a smile on his face.

Liara sighed and stood up. "I'll leave you to the baby." She stated, trying to sound neutral. Immediately she regretted how she said it however, as it revealed her frustration with the baby. She fled the room, leaving her half eaten breakfast behind.

"Liara!" Shepard called behind her. "Talk to me, what's the matter?"

Liara didn't want it however. She needed some time alone to sort out her feelings. Quickly she slipped into the elevator and closed the doors behind her. She sank to the ground with tears welling up in her eyes, blaming the baby for ruining everything. With the reapers gone, Liara wanted to merely spend all her time with Shepard.

"Liara! What's up?" Shepard spoke through the elevator doors. "EDI, open the doors... please."

Liara pushed into a far corner as the doors opened. Shepard stood just outside. He took a step in and then hit the button to close the doors. He plopped down next to his love, who was trying in vain to phase through the walls away from him. She just didn't want to talk to him.

Shepard let out a sigh. "It's about the baby isn't it?" He began.

"Go away."

"No I'm not. We are going to sort this out right now."

He wiped a tear that was flowing down her face. "Liara, I'm sorry about everything that happened with the reaper synthetics. I'm sorry about what I did with the old Shiala. But what's done is done. The baby is my chance to make things right. I want her to grow up in a normal family. I don't want to punish her for her parent's mistake. And she's a part of me Liara. Literally."

"But you forget about me in the process... We were all so busy fighting the reapers we never got to spend any time together. And then your reaper synthetics happened, and now the baby. I just want to be with you… and just you."

Shepard tried to comfort Liara by wrapping his arms around her. "I promise to be better to you Liara."

"You've been saying that and you never change." She snapped back. "All you do is promise, promise, promise, and then expect me to change. You are not my commanding officer, Shepard. We are bondmates. It's different."

"Well I can't be the only one that changes." Shepard withdrew his arms. "You need to accept the fact that Shiala is my daughter and I need to take care of her! We are literally connected!"

"But what about me? I'm your bondmate! We are connected too!"

"I love you Liara, but I don't think I have to prove it to you anymore after all we have been through together. This baby needs more attention than you."

Liara flared up in a biotic aura. "You went crazy and slept with other women, you hurt me, said terrible things, and yet I stayed with you. I worked hard to get you back. I believed that there was a Shepard worth saving. I went through so much trouble to finally get you back to me. I proved my love to you, and all you have to show to me is your daughter that you had with another asari!"

"Liara, I..."

"I don't want to hear it. You don't spend any time with me anymore!"

"Liara just listen to me!"

"No! Leave the elevator right now Shepard. I told you I don't want to talk."

Shepard looked at his bondmate in surprise. Her face told him that she meant it. Quietly and in defeat he got up and left the elevator. He waited for the doors to shut before he slammed his fist into a wall, leaving a sizable dent.

"Smooth talking Shepard." He told himself. He wandered around for a while, eventually coming to rest in the starboard observation room. It was quiet and empty there at the moment, so Shepard made full use of it. He sat on one of the couches and just stared out into space. He was angry at Liara for not understanding or hearing him out, but he was also angry at himself for everything that he had done before. But he didn't want to think about it. To distract him from it, he connected the dots that were stars into his own constellations.

Soon the door opened behind him and he heard someone enter, but Shepard kept to his constellation making.

"Hey Shepard, I was just wondering if you needed someone to talk to."

Shepard looked behind him to see Garrus standing at the door. He sighed. "I don't know Garrus. But I don't think it will do any harm if that's what you're asking."

"Well I just wanted to see how you were doing. We were able to hear a lot of yelling in the elevator when we were at the breakfast table."

Shepard sighed and buried his red face into his hands. "Oh… That's a good thought. How much did you make out?"

"Well, it was bad enough that all the girls went to console Liara, so I thought I should come to talk to you."

"Well thanks for thinking about me." Shepard put on a smile, even though he wasn't feeling like he could smile. "They're all probably giving advice to help Liara deal with her _terrible_bondmate." Shepard got up from the couch and began to pace around the room. "She brought up the whole renegade situation again. I got we had gotten past that."

"Shepard, that was a big thing for all of us."

"But it's over now! I'm better! Isn't that what matters?"

"But how can we know for sure Shepard? You said and did some horrible things. Remember that I shot you… and I didn't have that much hesitation."

"But you shot to save me. And here I am, saved."

"Shepard, I shot to put you out of your misery." Garrus avoided Shepard's surprised stare. "You had done so much damage to us all. Then you killed the council. You were trying to bring hell down on us. You made Aria of all people commit suicide. You can't just calmly walk away from something like that!"

"Then what do I do Garrus? I'm obviously not acting like I was back then anymore!"

"But you have some catching up to do. Talk with us Shepard. Convince us that you are not still secretly evil."

"But I'm not!" Shepard sat back down and looked at his feet. He sat silently for a minute or two as he thought about it more. He sighed. "I guess you're right. I really was acting terrible."

Garrus sat next to him on the couch and looked out to the stars. He sighed. "None of us asked for this Shepard. But after what happened, we got to… rebuild our relationships."

"I guess I got you to help me with that though. Right?" Shepard playfully punched Garrus' shoulder.

Garrus went silent. "Well, I don't really know if I could help with that. I'm terrible with relationships."

"What do you mean? I think you are good with relationships! What about you and Tali? You had it going good there!"

"Well Tali and I... we broke up."

Shepard looked to his friend in surprise. "I'm really sorry to hear that. What happened?"

"Nothing happened Shepard, but that's the point. There really was nothing between us." Again he sighed. "We just… drifted apart from each other, mostly when we were trying to find you."

"So then it's my fault. I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault Shepard. Just after that night with her before we hit Cronos station, we knew it would be hard but we were stupid and thought that we could make it work. I guess we were wrong." Garrus shifted in his seat. "And she's not turian anyway; our physiology just didn't work …"

"But you could find a way; just trust me on that one."

"Shepard, she wanted a baby. I could not give her that."

"Oh." Shepard looked away awkwardly. "I'm sure you will find the right person eventually then. But it's not all about babies."

As if to save both from the awkward moment, EDI's voice intruded in on their conversation. "Commander, Joker needs to speak with you in the cockpit. It is urgent."

"I guess you have work to do Shepard." Garrus got up from the couch.

"Thanks for the talk Garrus. I guess I've been lying to myself that everything is ok." Shepard got up and exited the room. But upon seeing the elevator, he doubled back.

"I'm not going in that elevator unless I have some backup. Think you could accompany me?" Shepard asked. "It will help get your mind off Tali for a little bit." He added.

"I guess you're right. Let's go."

Both headed for the elevator. To their relief, the elevator was empty and their trip to the cockpit was uneventful.

* * *

"Hey Commander, sorry to tear you away from the elevator…" Joker greeted him from the pilot's seat. "But we got something for you."

"Just tell me the news Joker."

"We have arrived at Illium!"

"And?"

"Well why don't you take a look for yourself?"

Shepard took a look out the window. "I see Illium, what am I supposed to be looking for?"

"Is there anything else you can see?"

"Unless you count space and the stars, I don't see anything."

"Well that's the point. There's no relief force there. No one came to help Illium."

Shepard got excited but was cautious this time. "How do you know that? They could have left the area already!"

"They would have small left dark matter disturbances from the FTL jump if they did. There's nothing."

"What about on the ground?" Shepard asked, praying that things were at least going well for the survivors.

"We were able to intercept some small range ground communication, and it seems that the survivors on the planet have gotten back together into their assorted gangs and have proceeded to make war."

"Can we help them?"

"Giving any sort of relief is inadvisable. One gang would ultimately get the advantage from any relief and destroy the other survivors." EDI advised from her co-pilot seat.

"So Illium is tearing itself apart, and we can't do anything about it?" Garrus gathered. "I knew that place was bad, but I never expected this."

"We need to get answers from the council." Shepard stated angrily. His excitement turned to anger after he heard what was happening to the survivors. He could not believe how terrible things were going.

With clenched fists and at a brisk pace, Shepard made for the shadow lair's comm station.

* * *

"We are sorry Commander Shepard, but the council will not be seeing anyone today."

"But it's an urgent matter; I've talked with the human councilor about this already! I made this council; they should at least hear what I have to say." Shepard fumed at the council receptionist. His frustration was already at a high; he had called three times already, the two previous calls he had been unable to connect. This was his first time talking to an actual person.

"The council is discussing important matters and has no time to-"

"Listen, they can't be discussing much if they aren't doing their job. I need to talk with them."

"I'm sorry sir; but as I said they are unavailable at this time."

"Then make them available!" He yelled.

"Sir I will be forced to cut you off if you continue this behavior."

"Well then I will call again."

The blue outline of the receptionist immediately disappeared from the station. Shepard cursed his luck and tried again.

An automated voice answered the comm request. "I'm sorry, but this number has been blocked by council security for 24 earth-hours. Please call again after that timeframe and we will be happy to accommodate you.

Shepard hit the console in frustration. "Joker, set a course for Earth. We are going to have to talk to the council in person."

"Just don't kill the council when you get there again."

"Shut up Joker."

"What? I thought everyone liked nostalgia trips."

Calling defeat, he muddled into the Shadow Lair proper. He had nothing better to do and walked around the room. Seeing all the high tech equipment, Shepard wondered if he could dig up some dirt on the council with it. Maybe he could find an explanation or a clue as to why they skipped Illium. Shepard approached Liara's main terminal.

The console was already logged in, so Shepard had no trouble accessing her files. He searched around through the file trees, but unfortunately he could not find anything useful on the council. He began to poke through the rest of the files due to curiousity, eventually finding interest in Liara's video logs. He selected one at random and played it.

Liara's bust appeared above the console, a recording of what she was doing when she made the video log.

"Video log 283. I lost Shepard at the bar, but we picked up another complication. Shiala was there, and she's pregnant."

"What is Shepard doing? What is wrong with him? How could he so easily lose control to his renegade thoughts? Is he fighting them at all?"

Liara sniffed and rubbed her eyes. "Will I ever get him back at all?" Then she lost it. Tears began to flow down her face and her crying showed how much grief she was in.

"I knew that there was a huge possibility of him dying when we fought the reapers, but I never expected this." She took a deep breath in a vain attempt to regain control over herself. "This is so much worse than him dying. We were going to have a family together… and now he's making babies with everyone else." The crying turned into sobbing and she struggled to regain herself. "Goddess, Shepard why do you do this to me? Why does your renegade self hate me so much?" She took another deep breath in another desperate attempt to regain herself. "If this is just a suppressed side of you, have you always felt this way about m-"

Shepard shut off the log before she could finish that sentence. Silently he left the terminal and sat on the nearby stairs. His heart was torn apart and his body was shaky; He now had a taste of how badly he hurt his bondmate, the love of his life.

Shepard began to chastise himself. He didn't like to think back to those days, and as a result he had conveniently 'forgotten' everything that he had done. He had killed the council. He had wanted everyone on the Normandy, everyone who loved or cared for him, to suffer as he made them flee from his wrath. He made Liara think that he hated her. He was disgusted with himself. Only now Shepard realized what Liara was getting at before when they had fought. He had a lot of making up to do, who knew what Liara was thinking about him presently.

And he couldn't run faster enough to make it all right.

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:** Didn't expect it on the bottom now did you?

Well, some people were complaining that everyone accepted Shepard immediately after he killed the council in From the Ashes. Trust me, that was not the case, he's got a lot of relationship fixing to do. And it seems that the council has got some 'splainin' to do.

As for Tali and Garrus' breakup, I have other ships I support now, so more on that later!

It has come to my attention that these chapters that I am putting out are too short. What do you guys think about that? I made this one longer, like FtA and A Little Ship... again what are your thoughts on the length?

Also, a little quality check, how do you guys think I'm doing? Is my writing good? Are the chapters at least mildly engaging?

I would like to give a shout out to the first reviewer of this story who referred to themselves as 'a fan'. You are awesome! I am flattered that you think my writing is one of the better ones here. Grammar is my bane, so I'm glad you are not a grammar nazi xD. I will be going back and fixing up my stories to the best of my ability soon. So it will get better! Thanks so much for the review!


	5. Chapter 5

**Authoer's note:** Against my better judgement I worked hard to release two chapters this weekend to get the main story rolling.

We got two more reviews in. I'd like to say some things to those awesome people. First of all to guest. You are awesome! I just recently read my stories and boy is the grammar terrible. I really need to redo those stories, which I am debating about doing right now... I'll have more on that later. As for mirrors, you made me smile with your first sentence there. haha No I did not forget my promise at all! xD The chapters are just getting longer now without me trying to, so I think we have a problem solved with chapter length.

Just wondering what everyone thinks of the drama that I have going in the story. Chapter 6 really picks up with the main plot, but in the meantime I've been chugging along. Is it something you guys like?

And finally, as for Tali, don't worry I have something special planned for her xD

* * *

Shepard entered the captain's cabin to find his bondmate on the bed. She was not sleeping, instead looking up into space with her arms folded behind her head. Shepard could connect to what she was doing; the vast emptiness of the stars called out to both, and they would turn to it to voice their frustrations when no one else would listen.

He saw her watching him from the corner of her eye for a moment to see who it was, and then she returned to her stargazing. Shepard gulped and approached the foot of the bed. He paused for a moment as he debated what to do. Then he went to Liara's side and sat down next to her body. Again he paused, this time to indulge in doubtful thoughts that were manifesting in his mind.

"Liara I want to talk to you."

She did not answer, instead finding the stargazing to be more important.

"Liara I'm sorry for what I did. I was stupid and-"

She shifted a little on the bed, a sign to Shepard that she was listening. Shepard paused as he debated what to say next. No words came to his mind.

_If this is just a suppressed side of you, have you always felt this way about m-_  
He needed to show Liara that he loved her without a doubt.

Without thinking he brought his lips to hers, holding them there as Liara squirmed. When he felt like letting go, Liara pushed him off. Now she couldn't ignore him.

"Get off of me! What are you doing?"

"Liara I love you. And lately I've realized how little I've shown you how much I do."

She sat back, looking at him angrily.

"Liara, I'm sorry... I took you for granted. I never thought about the stress and pain I must have put you through. You are the strongest and most stubborn person I have ever met... and you are also the most beautiful in the entire universe."

A smile began to form on her face at that statement, and Shepard knew he was making progress.

His arms began to make their way around her torso as he maneuvered over her body onto the bed next to her.

"And I will have you know that I always have loved you. There was never a time that I hated or disliked you. My renegade self...was not me because he hated you. The real Shepard would never hate you."

Liara's arms then made their way around Shepard. Her smile grew with each statement of love he gave.

"And I realize that I am focusing too much on Shiala, and I am sorry for that too. We haven't spent really any time together since I've been cured and I want to make that up to you."

Liara kissed Shepard on the cheek, now making no effort to try to contain her smile. "Oh Shepard, I love you and miss you so much."

"I do too Liara. Every moment that you are not there I miss you."

Both faces moved in for a kiss. Then they settled in to a comfortable silence together.

After some time laying together, Shepard left her embrace and sat up on the bed. "You know, I've never really taken you on a date. How about that?"

"I would love that. But where would we have this date?"

Liara pulled him back down and gave him a kiss.

"We are going to Earth. We could do it there. You've only seen destroyed cities there, but trust me it's a beautiful planet."

Liara's look changed from in love to concerned. "Why are we going to Earth? There's no reason for that."

"There was no relief force at Illium, and the planet itself was in violent gang wars. I tried to talk to the council and that human councilor wouldn't let me talk to them. So we are going to Earth to do it in person."

"Goddess, I was so hoping your suspicions weren't right..."

"I know. But now we need to pick up the pieces and stop this."

Liara sat up and sighed. Her face showed defeat.

"What's wrong?"

"Here I have you apologizing to me and promising everything will be better, but it seems the galaxy might need you again."

Shepard enveloped her hand in his.

"And we will do it together."

Liara responded with another kiss on the cheek.

"Shepard if we are going to Earth, I should check my feeds and see what intel we could get from my agents still there."

She shifted off the bed and adjusted her clothes. Shepard stood up and returned his hand in hers.

"Together." He stated.

Liara smiled. "Fine. Together."

Hand in hand they made their way to the elevator and headed to the shadow lair.

* * *

Tali was in the Shadow Lair when the couple came into the room still hand in hand. It was clear they had made up after their big fight, and she was happy that the couple had fixed their issues. But at the same time she was jealous of what they had.

She and Garrus had broken up the previous week. She was the one that did the breaking up; they were getting nowhere in their relationship and she wasn't going to get what she wanted. What she wanted was what Shepard and Liara had; the start of a family.

Garrus would never be able to give that to her. Their bodies were not compatible, and they couldn't even mate regardless because quarian bodies are too fragile to handle the aggressive turian mating practices.

She watched from her console as couple went to work. Liara activated her terminal and immediately saw something surprising come up from the last user's session. She turned to Shepard, who confessed something and they embraced and passionately kissed.

Tali sighed. If they wanted to get her even more jealous, they were doing a good job about it. Despite being family on the Normandy, she was starting to feel like this wasn't the place for her. Shepard and Liara were together, Gabby and Kenneth were as well, Traynor was going out with one of the bridge technicians, apparently Kasumi was seeing that salarian spectre, James and Ashley were 'secretly' seeing each other, and even Joker was getting it on with EDI. And here she had no one.

Tali watched as Shepard's face twisted in pain from one of those headaches that he would occasionally get. He sat down, holding his head, while Liara attempted to comfort him. Tali's heart burned and twisted as she watched the scene. She wanted someone that would do exactly that when she felt hurt or down. She wanted someone to hold her in their arms, someone to touch with her own skin.

Garrus was never one to hug or cuddle, he liked to keep his emotions more or less to himself, and that's one of the things that Tali hated. Being enclosed in a suit, quarians had to talk about their feelings; otherwise no one would know what's going on behind the suit. If a quarian kept silent about something, it could mean doom for the rest of the crew.

Tali continued to watch in her sullen state as Shepard left for the med bay and Liara stayed behind to work at Shepard's urging.

Liara saw Tali and realized that something was up with her friend. "What's wrong Tali? You don't look happy."

In her mind Tali cursed herself. She was trapped, she knew Liara would not believe her if she said things were fine. Liara was the shadow broker as well; she could tell if Tali made up a lie. It had to be the truth.

"I just need to talk." Tali put out weakly. Even though she had resigned herself to telling Liara the truth, her mind still panicked. Her legs got weak and she sat down where she stood.

Liara sat down next to her friend on the floor. "Are you alright Tali?"

"I... I'm so lonely right now." Tali muttered. She brought her legs to her chest and dropped her head into them.

Liara put a hand on her shoulder. "Oh Tali. It's about your breakup with Garrus isn't it?"  
"No Liara it's... I..." Her brain gave up speaking and it was a moment before her heart began to pick up the slack. "It's just that I see you with the baby and I realize that I want a family too."

Liara sighed. "But the baby isn't mine."

"But that doesn't matter! The baby loves you Liara!" Tali's heart took full control now. "I want that, I want a little baby quarian of my own."

"That's why you broke up with Garrus..." Liara pieced it together.

"Yes... it was." She whispered silently ashamed of herself for dropping Garrus like she did.

"I know how you feel Tali." Liara muttered after a few moments.

"What do you mean? You got the baby."

"But I want my own baby with Shepard. Little baby Shiala was never supposed to happen!" Liara sighed. "Everytime I hold the baby I wish she were mine but she's not."

"Oh."

Tali had no idea what to say to that. So instead she let silence envelop each other.

"Promise me you won't tell Shepard, or anyone else Tali." Liara spoke. "Promise me."

Tali nodded. "Quarians honor, I won't tell anyone Liara. But you have to as well."

"I'm the shadow broker remember? I'm good at keeping things secret." Liara smiled. "I promise."

She stood up and held up a hand to Tali. "Come on, let's do something fun."

Tali took her hand and brought herself up. "As long as it doesn't involved babies, I like that idea."

"I can agree with that." Liara smiled.

* * *

Shepard viewed the wreckage of the citadel from the cockpit window as the Normandy began its final approach of Earth. The massive amount of energy that the crucible had released had weakened it's integrity to such a point that the massive structure could not hold itself together. What was once a massive and majestic structure now floated abandoned and in pieces through the vacuum of space.

The citadel was not the only thing that inhabited the space around earth. Reaper corpses littered the vast emptiness, caught in Earth's orbit. Nowadays these reaper corpses had space stations attached to them devoted to researching the giant behemoths; an insult to the once seemingly immortal beings.

Strangely enough, Shepard could not see any sign of the crucible. The Alliance probably took it in for study, Shepard theorized.

Shepard couldn't help but feel a chill go down his spine as he hearkened back to those days. He had been all over that citadel, and was even there at its demise. And even now it was a relic back to those days about three years ago where the reapers were rampaging across the universe. It was amazing how much things could change in those three years.

"We are almost in range to dock in orbit and send down the shuttle to Vancouver." Joker informed Shepard. "Got a plan yet?"

"Not really. I have to see what happens when I see them."

"Well just don't kill them like last time."

Shepard did not answer.

"My biometric sensors are reading that your statement was made before the emotional impact expired." EDI broke the silence from her co-pilot seat.

Joker threw up his hands. "Well I just wanted to remind him, that's all." Joker laughed to try to break the awkwardness of the situation. Shepard cut him an angry look and Joker's laughter trailed off into silence. Shepard let the awkward silence exist for a little more and then left the cockpit with a little smile on his face.

Now Joker getting silenced by an awkward silence, _that_ was funny.


	6. Chapter 6

Vancouver had gotten crowded since the crew had last been there. Now that the universe was safe again, more and more people wanted to travel through space, making Vancouver teeming with people ready to shoot themselves across the galaxy. In the past year alone, colonization demand had skyrocketed.

Those that chose to stay on Earth quietly worked on rebuilding the rest of the planet, which it seemed from the pace of things, was going to be a long time until completion.

The Vancouver council complex, actually located on Vancouver island, was also full of people as well. Due to the fragility of the citadel, the council moved all operations to Vancouver for the time being. The complex that they built was truly incredible. Each council race had a section of the building, with a common ground linking them together in the center of the complex. These sections were made in the image of their home planets, with plants and even non-hostile animals brought in to add to the atmosphere.

The common area largely served as a place for the council to conduct their hearings. The council sat and conducted business on a separate level above the main floor arranged in a ring. Walkways protruded off the outer edge of the ring and connected to the second level of each section, providing an easy bridge for councilors to make it to the ring and back to their offices without having to go through the crowds of people below. Those that wished to give petitions or voice concerns to the council would be lifted up via a raising platform into the center of the ring of councilors.

On the main floor of the common area sat many relics of the citadel. The conduit hovered over a large pool off to one of the sides of the area, and the statue dedicated to the Krogan that once stood on the citadel found a home for onlookers. Most notably however were the walls, all one large engraved mural dedicated to the destruction of the reapers.

The mural was an incredible work of art, encompassing all the art styles of the council races. It reached from the floor level all the way up the extremely vast walls to the ceiling. Above the portal that would allow access to each race's section was a scene depicted in the respective race's art style of the biggest event to that species during the war. Above the door that lead back to Vancouver the mural depicted all the various races rebuilding over the corpses of the reapers.

Shepard liked the human's mural the best. At the base of the mural were the hammer forces engaged in battle in London. As it got higher on the wall, the scene gradually turned to space where the Sword fleet was engaging the reapers in space. In the center of the space battle was the citadel connected to the crucible enveloped in a ray of light.

Every time he saw that mural, it brought back the feeling of triumph, not for humanity or for himself, but for existence and life. It reminded him of why the galaxy was worth saving.

And this time was no different as he gazed up the enormous wall. He could have stayed there forever.

A friendly hand meshed itself into his own.

"This is really one gorgeous place, but we got business to attend to." Liara's voice quickly brought Shepard back into the present.

"Yeah." Shepard sighed at the sight of gorgeous terran flora. "I think I know where we are going to spend our date." Shepard spoke as Liara led him through the doors into the human section.

"I frankly don't care where we spend it." Liara responded. "Just as long as I'm with you."

"Well then we could call this our date and be done with it."

Liara chuckled. "It almost sounds like you don't want this date."

Shepard smiled and gave Liara a kiss. "I hope that convinces you otherwise." Liara blushed as other people looked to the lovers.

Shepard and Liara marveled through the human section as they worked their way to the councilor's office. A receptionist was at a desk outside the doors that lead into the office.

Liara approached the receptionist while Shepard stood a little behind her so the receptionist wouldn't recognize Shepard.

"Hello." The receptionist gave Liara a smile as she approached.

"Hello." Liara returned the smile. "I would like to talk to the councilor about a very important matter. When can I see him?"

"I can schedule you in for an appointment." The receptionist cheerfully answered.

"When is the earliest I can schedule one?"

The receptionist clicked away at her console. "The earliest would be..." She paused as her eyes searched for the earliest date. "…about three months from now."

"Three months? I need to talk to him now!" Liara was shocked.

"I'm sorry the councilor is very busy at the moment. It is council policy for a councilor not to see anyone without an appointment."

Liara sighed. "When is the next council meeting?"

"The council convenes together in one week."

"I'm sorry, I'll just talk to my councilor then." Liara shook her head and turned around to leave.

"I'll take who's next!" The receptionist called. Shepard took a step forward. Immediately the receptionist recognized who it was and her face lost its cheerful charm. "I'm sorry Commander Shepard; the councilor will not see you at all."

"And why is that?" Shepard challenged.

"You verbally assaulted another receptionist as well as have a previous violent history with the council."

"Oh really?" Shepard laughed crossing his arms. That comment brought him to his limit.

Liara pulled Shepard away before things got worse. "Let's go, the councilor probably would have told us a bunch of lies anyway."

"That's for sure. But it could have hinted at what he was up to." He looked back to the door. "I need to get into that office."

"Shepard don't do what I think you are doing. Now they know that you are here, and who knows who the councilor is allied with."

"Let me look on my feeds and see what I can find."

Shepard shook his head. "Your feeds won't find anything because if they did they would have found it by now… we need to break in."

"No Shepard. Don't do that. Who knows what will happen."

"Well can't you go with me?"

"I won't. I'm going to be searching my feeds."

Shepard smiled. "Then I know just the person who could help us out with that." He muttered under his breath.

Hand in hand they made it back to the shuttle to wait for the others that had wanted to see the complex. Once everyone was back, they headed back to the Normandy for the night.

* * *

Kasumi sat in the port observation room as usual in her pajamas on one of the many couches arranged in the room. In her hands was a worn paper book that was sucking her in as if it were a black hole.

She found it hard to read on data pads, her fingers yearned for the texture of tangible pages and covers. She found that she could relax easier with an actual book as well. There was a value to physicality beyond its value. Physical objects had no chances of having their memory erased or programs hacked, something that Kasumi was very exposed to in her line of work. Knowledge was power, but something physical provided more of a challenge.

She found a stopping point in her book and gently placed a bookmark to keep her spot. Then she closed the book and waited for the footsteps of what seemed like Shepard at the door. But why? She wondered. Probably coming to ask about the skunk pheromone prank she played on Javik. He was so uptight and a self-proclaimed omnipotent; it made her smile when he made a fool of himself.

The door opened, and Kasumi silently congratulated herself on the correct prediction. Shepard walked through the now open door way and smiled as he caught her eyes.

"What's up Shep?" She welcomed him in, eager to know if the second part of her prediction was true.

"Well, I've got a job for you."

Those words enticed her for more. A job for what? She wondered.

"It's a mission that will involve your expertise." Shepard continued.

Kasumi smiled at the thought of another heist. "Just tell me where to go Shep."

Shepard smiled; glad to see that Kasumi was easily on board. "You and I are going to do a break in. I want to see the dirt that the human councilor keeps under his desk."

Kasumi beamed. This was going to be interesting. "When do we start?"

"The council offices shut down in two hours. We'll shoot for then."

"I'll be ready then."

"Good." Shepard made his way for the door. Right before the door however he stopped, thinking of something else to add. "And by the way, that prank you pulled with the skunk smell and Javik's water tables was very... clever, but Javik's freak out afterwards was not so much. Please watch what you do."

Kasumi smiled at the thought of Javik losing it. "I won't do that ever again Shep. Promise."

Shepard chuckled. "It's the prank that's coming up next that I worry about." He disappeared through the threshold as the door closed.

Kasumi patted herself on the back for another correct prediction and went back to her book. It seemed like today she would not get as far as she wanted.

* * *

The common area and council races sections were still full of people when Shepard and Kasumi entered them again. Quickly they headed to the human section and made their way to the reception desk. Behind it were large high security doors. Kasumi eyed them humorously. These doors were something that could have taken Kasumi merely seconds to get into, however the large amount of people present in the area discouraged such behavior.

Kasumi inspected the area for anything that they could exploit. She found nothing. "Let's try one of the other sections; I don't see anything to get into the offices. I'm sure the other council offices are all connected though."

The section next to the human one was the asari section. The section was made up of elegant shapes, with swooping curves taking main stage. Plants were arrayed in an elegant garden. The whole area spewed elegance. Shepard and Kasumi made their way to the locked office doors. It was the same deal as the human section.

"Commander Shepard." A stern deeper sounding asari voice called to him a few feet behind.

Both froze at the thought of capture. Shepard turned around to see who it was. Standing before them was the asari councilor Matriarch Aethya.

"Councilor Aethya. What a surprise." Shepard smiled. "Or should I call you father in law." He opened his arms to receive a hug.

"I heard you had arrived right before it was closing time." She checked her flanks before continuing. "Which is good because I need to talk to you in private."

"What about?" Shepard asked.

"Shut up and follow me." She spoke, unlocking the door and bringing them to her office. She waited until both were seated before she continued speaking.

"You see, some of the other councilors have been acting rather strange. They vote for absurd motions blindly without any regard to their own species. And then when I start yelling about it, they shush me!"

"What do you mean?"

"At our last meeting we had a majority vote for that human councilor's absurd motion to have reparations paid to London Earth for being the site of the reaper's destruction... Last time I checked, Vancouver is a fully recovered city on Earth and Thessia is still all rubble!"

"So what do you think is happening?"

"I think the human councilor is bribing or blackmailing them or something. He seems to be at the center of this. I'd take him out myself, but those bastards will fight me before anything bad happen to him. Whatever he's doing, he's got them good."

"Funny, I thought we were the only ones suspicious about the human councilor." Kasumi chimed in.

"You are?" The councilor questioned.

"Apparently he's been sending council fleets and resources to exclusively fix human colonies and interests."

"That doesn't surprise me. He cut off all our links to our homeworlds due to some terrorist scare a few months ago. He doesn't want any secrets to be taken by these so called "terrorists". Again, another majority vote by the council."

"So you are without communication to Thessia?"

Aethya chuckled. "Well not necessarily… I have my ways of staying in contact. You can't keep this asari down."

Shepard digested this information to himself before continuing. "Is there any way we could access his office?" Shepard wondered. "We were actually going to break in when you saw us." He chuckled.

"I can't get you in, but if you use his ring access walkway you can easily get into his office. You can take my access to get to the councilor ring."

"Thank you… dad." Shepard and Kasumi stood to leave.

"Good luck… erm… son in law. These are some strange times we got going on."

Shepard nodded and left by way of the ring access.

* * *

The human councilor's office was ornately decorated in modern human fashion. Priceless paintings hung on the clean white walls. A small fountain ran in the middle of the office. The councilor's desk sat on a slightly raised platform flanked on each side by large bookcases. Facing the desk also exposed one to a large glass wall that gave a spectacular view of the city. The ambient light from the city made it easy to search the room without turning on any lights.

Shepard searched the desk, while Kasumi immediately went for the councilor's console and got to work hacking the system.

Finding nothing in the desks, Shepard began to search the bookcases. On one of the shelves was a rather large book, too long for the shelf to fully hold. Thinking it to be a lever, Shepard pushed down on the top of it. The book fell off the shelf easily and Shepard caught it in midair. He brought it back to its spot and realized why it was there. In a divider that would have looked like it was part of the bookshelf, was an eye reading sensor that would have been hidden by the book.

"Look what I found." Shepard turned to catch her attention.

To his surprise however he found Kasumi grappled by two men with weapons aimed to her head. They were wore dark grey and black armor with small green lights as accents. Their helmets masked their identity, but Shepard was sure that by the way that they were built they were human.

Shepard looked to the door to see more troops rush in. The last to come in was the human councilor and with another soldier, specially dressed in what seemed to be a commander's armor.

"So Commander Shepard, we meet face to face like you wanted. I bet you didn't expect it would be like this." He chuckled, but stopped abruptly and put on a serious face. "What are you doing in my office?" He demanded.

"Why did you only fix the human colonies?" Shepard countered.

"Humanity has the only colonies that matter. We are the best race."

"What are you talking about?"

"It was under our leadership that the combined council races destroyed the reapers. It was because of us!" He began to pace around the room.

"But we would not have been able to defeat the reapers without the other races' help!"

"Even the reapers thought we were superior. We were the only race they considered for a new reaper. The evidence is undeniable Shepard."

"I still don't buy it. How did you convince the other councilors you have under your thumb to agree to this?"

"The Father takes care of them, and that is why they help me. Even I am merely his tool.

"The Father? What are you talking about?"

The councilor chuckled. "Oh, you will meet him soon enough." He gave a motion to the commander as he left the room. The commander began to move towards Shepard, unsheathing the electrified end of a tazer.

"Oh no you don't." Shepard went into a fighting stance.

When the commander got in range, Shepard swung an uppercut and threw the commander back. Likewise Kasumi knocked her captor's weapons away and rendered them unconscious by smacking their heads together.

Immediately the other soldiers approached the two, and with their superior numbers they incapacitated them.

Kasumi immediately fell. Shepard tried stay awake, collapsing to the floor.

The commander got up, his helmet on the ground, and effortlessly picked Shepard up. Hazily Shepard beheld his own face staring back at him.

"Oh no _you_ don't." The face mocked as Shepard was punched in the face. He felt his body hit the ground, and then everything went black.


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's note:** Sorry for posting this a little later than usual, my college workload has been a little crazy lately. Anyway, I will say that I fully support the romance option that I gave to Tali (as you will see in this chapter). In addition in accordance with the end of this chapter, MAY THE SUSPENSE CONTINUE! :D

* * *

**WAAAAAAAHHHHHH**

Liara hated that sound. She hated it because it tore her from her rather peaceful dreams and from sleep in general. The fact that it came from a child not her own further added to her annoyance.

"It's your baby, you take care of it." Liara spoke, muffled by the pillow in her face. Her hand reached out to feel around for her lover but she found nothing. Emptiness filled the void of where her bondmate was. Her arm searched the bed a little more not quite convinced.

"Ugh." Liara groaned from the bed. She made a mental note to complain about this obvious daughter to bondmate bonding scheme of Shepard's.

With great effort she got up and dragged her feet to the wailing child. She picked the baby up and rocked it back and forth. "There, there Shiala." She spoke rather unconvincingly.

But the child showed no signs of stopping. The baby's face was curled up in pain as if it were being tortured. Liara checked the baby over and could find nothing wrong. Liara hoped that this was just a trick, and began searching around the room for Shepard. After a desperate search, Liara ruled that she was officially alone with the baby.

Liara pinched herself to see that she wasn't just having a terrible dream.

Watching the baby cry in a state of sullen defeat she wondered if the baby was just hungry. The only way to find out was to take the baby down to the kitchen and try to feed her. She entered the elevator and punched the button for the crew floor. Immediately she regretted the decision, as the confined quarters of the elevator amplified the screaming. The elevator just wouldn't move fast enough...

Soon everyone else was privy to the screaming as Liara rushed into the kitchen area and searched for food furiously in the cupboards and refrigerator. Upon finding what she needed, Liara rushed the child to her high chair. Liara placed the baby in the chair and began fumbling with the child's food. The moment Liara stopped touching the child, the screams intensified.

With a defeated look on her face, Liara looked to the others for help. Dr. Chakwas came running to the baby and picked the child up, running her own inspection on the baby. She shook her head upon completion.

"I don't know why the child is screaming, but let me run an actual test on her." Chakwas had to yell so that the others could hear over the baby. Chakwas handed the child to Liara and activated her omni tool. "I need you to hold her as I check her insides."

Liara held the baby as far away as possible as she waited for the omni tool to complete its scan. Again Chakwas shook her head when she viewed the results. "I see nothing. The omni tool sees nothing. "Let's hope that she is just one hungry child."

"What do we do?"

"Just let the baby run her course. Soon she'll run out of steam and calm down. In the meantime try to feed her."

Liara sighed. She held the baby in one hand and tried to feed it with the other. The baby wouldn't take the food and wailed even louder. Shiala knocked the bottle out of Liara's hand. Liara knew she wasn't doing it right and needed Shepard's help if she was ever going to "bond" with the child.

"Anyone know where Shepard is?" Liara asked the crowd of concerned friends surrounding her.

"He left in the middle of the night on the shuttle with Kasumi." EDI chimed in extra loud over the baby's screaming.

Liara put two and two together. If Shepard took Kasumi, then he was going to break in somewhere. It was obvious where he was going to break in as well, he had revealed his plan to break into the councilor's office to her the previous night. She had thought that she had talked him out of it however.

"We can go find him for you." Garrus offered.

Liara shook her head. "No, I have a few things that I want to tell him. Can someone take the baby for a little bit?"

There was a silence as no one came forward to take the baby.

"Ah screw it." Ashley stepped forward and took the baby, who immediately increased her decibel output. Tali came up to Liara.

"If you are going to the surface, I need to go too. I got a message from the quarian councilor."

Liara nodded and smiled.

When the elevator doors shut and Liara was alone with Tali, she sighed and rested against the wall. The relative silence, even with that infernal elevator music, was welcoming to her ears.

"The baby too much for you?" Tali joked from the other end of the elevator.

"You have no idea." Liara rubbed her temples. "I know MY children won't be like that."

Tali chuckled. "We will see about that. Remember that Shiala is part Shepard."

"Well if they are this chaotic, they will be MY little children of chaos."

Both laughed and the elevator doors opened to the cargo bay. A shuttle was in the dock ready and waiting and they boarded without issue.

* * *

"Tali have you seen the Quarian section of the council complex yet?" Liara asked as the shuttle touched down on a landing pad connected to the council complex.

"No I haven't actually. I hear they tried to make it just like Rannoch."

At a rather quick pace they made their way through the common ground and past the human section doors to get to the Quarian section.

They made their way through the doors and Tali gasped as she beheld a little chunk of Rannoch. The ceilings were high and portrayed the Rannoch sky, complete with day and night cycles. The floor was made from packed dirt from Rannoch herself, as well as multiple rock formations. Several mock buildings were scattered about in the large sectional expanse, built in traditional quarian style. Cultural tapestries both ancient and new hung from posts that showcased the tapestries.

"It's just like when I first set foot on Rannoch." Tali exclaimed excitedly, clapping her hands together in excited fashion. She looked to Liara like a child. "I could stay here forever!"

"Don't forget why you are here." Liara smiled at her friend's reaction.

Tali quickly regained her composure. "That's true, business first. I am an admiral of course."

With an important stride she led the way to the receptionist's desk.

"I have an appointment with the councilor." Tali spoke authoritatively to the receptionist.

"Ah Tali, I'm glad you could make it." The quarian councilor greeted her before the receptionist could speak. He made his way down from the entrance of the councilor's offices and approached the two at the desk.

"Councilor Koris, I see you are well. What did you need me for?"

"Well Tali, I'll be honest I don't need you for anything at the moment. But we did discover something that we found… alarming."

"What is it?" Tali asked, her voice showing her concern.  
Koris leaned in and spoke in a hushed voice. "We discovered that there is a plot by the shadow broker to assassinate you. Because you are one of our fleet admirals, we are duty-bound to give you protection."

Tali looked to Liara suspiciously. "What do you mean an assassination?"

"We do not know the details, but we know that there is a hit." He motioned to someone behind him. Another quarian approached from behind in a red enviro-suit. "May I present to you your bodyguard until the hit is resolved, I think you know him."

"Hello Tali." Kal' Reegar spoke to Tali. "It seems I'm tasked to defend you yet again."

"Reegar?" Tali exclaimed. "How did you get here? I thought you died on Palaven!"

"Well I was in a turian hospital for a while, just got over my paralysis." Reegar explained.

"Well that is all Tali. If there is more you would like to talk about I'll be in my office. I have some important business I need to finish up." The councilor left the trio and entered the office area.

"Keelah… What happened to you?" Tali spoke.

"No offense ma'am, but I don't want to distract you from your duties, I know I'm not the only reason you came, otherwise Dr. T'soni wouldn't be here." Reegar spoke.

"Well I think you two should get to know each other so Reegar can defend you better." Liara answered, unable to hide her smile.

"I will, I just hope the shadow broker doesn't strike then." Tali cut her a glance, and even without any facial cues Tali could tell that she was terribly confused.

Liara chuckled. "I guess you'll never know. The shadow broker is a mysterious person. No one knows her plans. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go." Liara smiled again and left.

Liara reentered the human section and began her search for Shepard. If he hadn't come back after the Normandy that meant a few things; either he was stuck or captured somewhere and needed help. She decided that the first thing she would do is search for any signs of break in at the main office door. This was probably not their point of entry, but a clue could have been left behind to help point her in the right direction. She approached the secretary's desk and seeing what was there her mouth dropped in shock.

Behind the secretary Liara saw what looked like Shepard and the human councilor chatting rather amicably. Liara could not believe her eyes. She walked up to the two still in shock.

"Shepard?" She asked, not believing that it was him talking to the councilor.

"Liara!" He exclaimed. He gave her a happy hug. "I was just telling the councilor that I had to get back to you."

"I thought he wouldn't talk to you!" Liara spoke unconvinced.

"Well he was a busy man, he really had no idea that we were trying to contact him. He's going to have a chat with the receptionist."

"Shepard and I had a nice chat when he visited my house last night. I told him that the relief force had merely gotten stuck at a colony and did not make it to Illium when you had gotten there." The councilor spoke. "I really was all just a lack of communication, which I'm sorry about." He gave Liara a reassuring smile.

"So since that's all over, I think we can get back to our work." Shepard added.

Liara nodded, processing the information. It seemed that everything checked out. Shepard grabbed her arm and began to lead her away.

"It was a pleasure talking with you councilor." He spoke over his shoulder.

"The pleasure is all mine Shepard."

They walked into the common area after a few minutes of silence. Liara was still processing the information of what she witnessed. Maybe it really was just the receptionist being rude to Shepard and giving the wrong impression about the councilor…

"So everything worked out didn't it?" Shepard tried to start conversation up again.

"I guess it did." Liara smiled.

"And now that's one less distraction between me and you." He moved in for a quick kiss. Liara rested her head on his shoulder and sighed.

"It's almost too good to be true." She muttered.

* * *

Everything was hazy as Shepard reawakened. He could hear a muffled chatter around him, there was some material between him and the actual source. His mind felt sluggish and his body weak.

Shepard tried to move his arms to find that they were held in some contraption. He soon discovered his legs were held in the same way.

Soon things began to focus and Shepard realized where he was. He was enclosed in a glass tube, with his outstretched body held by the extremities. Outside the glass was what looked like a lab, with what looked like many reaper artifacts on various tables. Scientists in white lab coats were working at stations, gathering data from the objects and chattering amongst themselves.

There were several at the station closest to him. These scientists were experimenting on vials of a red liquid, something that looked like blood. Shepard saw what seemed like a supervisor take notice of his awakening and move over to the console connected to his containment tube. The man dressed in a lab coat but with a thin green and black stripe going down the left side of the torso picked up what seemed like a microphone.

"Ah, it seems that our guest of honor has awoken after his sessions. The Father tells me to bid you welcome. So... Welcome to hell, Shepard."


	8. Chapter 8

Vancouver itself looked gorgeous at this time of the year. A cool air was descending on the city as fall began to give way to winter. The leaves in the trees were golden and swayed in the breeze. Liara couldn't help but marvel; she had never seen such a gorgeous sight. Thessia never really had such large seasonal shifts.

"The trees on the citadel never changed color." She remarked, still marveling.

"That's because there were no seasons in the citadel. That's part of the beauty of Earth." Shepard replied, making an attempt to grab her hand.

Liara pulled her hand away however and smiled. "I'm mad at you by the way."

"Oh?"

"You left me alone with Shiala this morning. She wouldn't stop crying!"

"Shiala?" He paused, as if unsure who it was. "I'm sorry about that."

"I forgive you." Liara smiled and leaned into him. "But Ashley won't forgive me for leaving her with the baby for so long." She mischievously smiled as she thought back to her sly move.

Liara expected Shepard to get on him about leaving the baby but he did not. Instead he changed the subject rather randomly. It was clear that Shiala was not on his mind. "I should take you on a date."

Liara chuckled. "We already decided on that!"

Shepard smiled. "Well I wanted to make sure you remembered." Shepard brought his lips to her neck, holding a kiss there. It was a favorite spot of Shepard's when they were together after they fought Saren. The nostalgia was refreshing, indulging Liara and bringing her back to those much simpler times. In fact, she was surprised that Shepard had still remembered about that spot. Cerberus might have made sure that his important memories were intact, but there were some things that she thought had slipped through the cracks.

The couple walked back to the complex and headed into one of the many restaurants in the storefront at the entrance to the complex.

Shepard always liked to show the huge variety of human cuisine, his favorite being Japanese food. He liked the taste, but more importantly he would pick on the similarity of the various tentacle creatures and Liara's crest. Although she always tried to act offended, by the end she was laughing just as much as Shepard.

Immediately Shepard and Liara were recognized by the restaurant staff and led to a private room. Liara detested private rooms; these rooms were where her Shadow Broker agents would perform their hits in privacy. After asking nicely, they were led to another table in the public section and another waiter came to take their order.

By habit, Liara searched the room for any suspicious personnel as well as for all the exits. Interestingly, Liara spied Garrus in formal clothes sitting with an asari at a table on the other side of the restaurant. She wondered how long he and this asari had been together.

The couple chit chatted for a little while over dinner. The range of topics jumped all over the place, from Shepard making fun of her crest, to talking about the area.

It just all seemed weird to Liara, Shepard was acting just like he did during their time together after Saren; before the weight of the reaper war and his renegade self was thrust upon him. It was almost as if they didn't happen.

"What is up with you Shepard?" Liara interrupted him mid-sentence. She had been lost in thought and had not paid attention to anything he had said.

"What do you mean?" Shepard looked confused.

"You're acting strange."

Shepard shook his head. "I'm not acting strange." He crossed his arms and gave her an amused look. "From my perspective you are the one acting strange."

Liara didn't understand, Shepard never had such a confident tone about himself after what happened with the synthetics.

Before Liara could question him further, Shepard's omni tool flared up with a notification. Shepard gave her a look and checked the omni tool. "It seems the councilor has something to talk to me about." He spoke, his attention diverted to the omni tool. "If you'll excuse me..." He got up from the table.

"Shepard I'll go with you!" Liara put down the food and made to get up. "Just wait up!"

"No, you can't. I need to go." Without so much as a goodbye, he left the restaurant in a hurry.

Liara shook her head and sat back down. She activated her omni tool and assigned an agent to follow Shepard. Then she went back to finishing her meal. First Shepard acts strange, and then he leaves unexpectantly. Obviously something was up that he didn't want Liara to know.

Alone to her own thoughts, Liara worked to finish up the bill and pay the tab.

"So that's all you want now huh?"

An angry voice rose up over the chatter. Liara looked up, curious as to what was happening. She could see there was a commotion on the other side of the restaurant. The asari that had been sitting with Garrus had abruptly stood up and began to make a scene by yelling at Garrus.

"You just keep me around for how I am in bed, don't you?"

There was a collective gasp from the rest of the restaurant as people abandoned their conversations to listen in as if it were some kind of attraction.

"No, it's not like that." Garrus defended himself. "You're taking it the wrong way."

"I've stayed with you long enough to know that it is like that!"

The asari stormed off in a huff, leaving a depressed Garrus at the table by himself. He sank down and buried his face in his hands.

Liara could not leave her friend like that. She quickly paid the bill and moved over to her sullen friend.

"Come on, let's take a walk." She tried to bring him up by the arm, but he shrugged her off.

"Oh no, you saw that didn't you?"

"Yes I did, now come walk with me."

"Just let me be Liara."

"WALK." Liara commanded. To help she lifted her friend up in standing position with her biotics. "Let's go." She smiled, taking her friend away from the prying eyes and whispered conversations about what had happened.

* * *

Garrus didn't know what to think as he let himself be taken outside by Liara.

"So I didn't know you were dating anybody." She spoke once they were outside.

Garrus sighed. He desperately had to fill the void left by Tali. All their reasons for breaking up made sense, but that's what made it hurt more. So much for love overcoming all obstacles. Garrus just couldn't admit defeat. "I wanted to keep it quiet if it didn't work out..." He looked to his friend. "So much for that."

"I think it's a good thing I saw you."

"Oh really? Here I am extremely embarrassed and depressed. How is that a good thing?"

"We now know that you need help."

Garrus chuckled. "No, now we know that I am beyond help."

"You can't expect love to work out immediately Garrus."

Garrus didn't want a lecture. He didn't want anyone to tell him what to do. "And what about you? You and Shepard got together pretty quickly."

Liara shook her head. "It took us a while to fall in love with each other though. There's a difference in being attracted to someone and falling in love with them. You forget that I was over 100 when I met Shepard."

"But you're an asari, that doesn't count."

"But love is all the same Garrus."

"No it's not."

"The way we show love is different, however love itself is constant."

"Convince me."

"When you love someone, you will do anything for their wellbeing, and vice versa. You have to unconditionally love and trust them. Everyone can do that."

Garrus scoffed. "Well I can't do that… I win."

Liara's face twisted in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"I can't trust anyone after what happened with Sidonis." It was true. Shepard might have resolved the exact situation with Sidonis, but he was never able to fix the fact that a friend that he trusted had betrayed his friends and left them to die. He couldn't let a situation like Sidonis happen again. And how does one do that? By not trusting anyone.

Liara sighed. "I thought Shepard helped you through that."

"We resolved the situation, but I can't let a situation like that happen again."

Liara went silent as she explored what that could mean. "Do you trust us Garrus?"

"Yes but..." He hesitated, looking away as if he was ashamed that he was asking. "Are we sure Shepard isn't going to go crazy again?"

Liara didn't answer. Garrus toyed with the idea that maybe she didn't know herself.

"No matter what Shepard did, I still love him, and I will still trust him. No matter what happens, I will love him. I love him."

Garrus looked away, ashamed that he forced her to make such a definite answer. He just knew that as long as there were risks, he couldn't fully trust Shepard. He couldn't trust anyone for that matter.

"I just don't think I could ever do that after what happened. I tried once-" Garrus cut himself off. He was not going any farther with that comment.

But Liara was too smart for that, she knew exactly what Garrus was getting at. "You truly loved Tali didn't you?"

The words hung in Garrus' mind. Of course he did. The war and realizing that they might not make it out alive had made them so passionate about each other. But once their feelings of mortality left, so did the passion. But Garrus' love still remained. Those supportive hips, and her seductive voice...

Garrus cursed himself for the slip. Those memories of Tali were not helping the feeling that he was experiencing. "I... I miss her so much." He blurted out. "I thought we could pull it off, I thought I could make her love me enough that she would stick with me no matter what, but that's not the case." He stopped walking and turned away, ashamed of his emotional outburst.

"It doesn't matter that the odds were against you, maybe it just wasn't meant to be." Liara brought her hand on Garrus' shoulder. "Could you imagine if Tali and Shepard were together and he went crazy like he did? She would have never recovered from that. We are all different, and meant for specific people, no matter what we think."

Garrus calmed himself down, listening to Liara's words and using them as a rallying point. "I... I'll try one more time Liara. Maybe you are right."

* * *

"So tell me Reegar, how did you survive?" Tali asked Reegar. They were in the quarian section at Reegar's assistance, both sitting on a rock to the far left of the area. A calming breeze was flowing through the area. Tali was almost tempted to take her helmet off.

"I didnt survive." Reegar answered. "I was pronounced dead, but the medics resuscitated me. I had a broken spine, and got a terrible infection as a result of it."

"Keelah..." Tali couldn't help but be impressed with the soldier. "You don't give up for anything!"

"Tali... I was unconscious the whole time. It was the doctor's that weren't giving up on me."

"Oh." Tali laughed nervously. It got silent rather quickly as both went back to their thoughts.

Tali had figured out what this whole Shadow Broker assassination attempt was about. It was clearly some orchestration to get Reegar with Tali, who Liara had deemed a good match for Tali. She couldn't disagree with Liara's choice; Tali thought that Reegar was a perfect choice. The Reegar clan was a prominent family in quarian society, the kind of family whose kids played with the kids of fleet admirals. Ever since childhood, Tali had always harbored a small crush on Reegar. And this was her chance to make that crush into something bigger... a family. Tali thought back to her only other crush, Shepard. That had turned to obsession back when they fought the collectors and Liara wasn't on the ship to be with him... She had thought that she had a chance.

She just hoped that Reegar wouldn't turn into just another obsession. She wanted to make something of the chance that Liara gave.

Tali shifted her position on the rock and went for another attempt at having a conversation with Reegar.

"If you weren't going to guard me Reegar, what would you have done now that the Reapers are gone?"

Reegar sighed. "I probably would have gone to Rannoch and lived there for some time." He paused as he thought more about the question. "I don't know what I'd do though."

"Are you sad you're not on Rannoch?" Tali prodded.

That was an obvious question; of course every quarian not on the homeworld wanted to be on their newly reclaimed homeworld. But it kept the conversation going, and that's what Tali wanted.

"I do, but I like the adventure that being away from home offers. I'm actually kind of glad that I was offered to bodyguard you Tali."

Tali's spirits soared upon hearing that. "You are?!"

"Yes. You're not afraid to get your feet wet or get a cold; you do what needs to be done. That's what I like about you..."

Tali's imagination went into overload. She could see herself sitting with Reegar in a home on Rannoch, with several children at their feet. She could see herself seeing those smiling faces without any protective suits on...

"...but I don't know if I could ever be a father. All I know is war."

Tali's spirit plunged again but leveled out. Tali knew that this was a start, and she could work with this.

"Oh nonsense. You would be a great father." Tali confided. She edge closer to him on the rock.

"I don't know Tali..."

"Trust me on this one Reegar." She edged a little closer. "I think you would be a great father."

"Are you... hitting on me?"

Tali froze and began to panic in her mind. She didn't want to confess anything without knowing for sure if Reegar liked her, but if she said that she was not hitting on him, that could make for a potentially troublesome situation later. She had to commit.

"Yes... yes I am." She answered definitely. She prayed that awkwardness would not ensue.

Reegar was quiet for a moment. "Good." He spoke. "I knew that shadow broker business had to be a bunch of crap. The thing is Tali, I've had a crush on you for a long time and-"

Tali did not hear anymore because she fainted.

* * *

**Author's note:** So I wanted to have more for the squadmates, not just for Liara and Shep. So here we see some Garrus heartache and Tali romance. What do you guys think?


	9. Chapter 9

"Shepard." A voice like a whisper called to him.

Shepard still in his "containment suite", as that head researcher had called it, looked around for the source of the voice. No one was at the console and the only scientists in the room were on the far side.

"Who's there?" Shepard asked from inside the tube. His voice was hoarse and his throat dry; The scientists had been feeding him through an iv.

"Only a friend, Shepard."

"What do you want?"

"I merely want to check up on you. The tests that they are running on you don't hurt do they?"

In all truth they didn't. They merely did all sorts of scans on him. They kept him fed. His only discomfort was the position that they held him in constantly.

"I can't complain. But let me go."

The voice chuckled. "I can't do that, there is so much that we could learn from you. You are… special. I'm sure you know that."

"Let me go and I might just tell you what you want to know."

"Oh what we want to know you can't tell us."

"Then what is it?"

"You've met my soldiers haven't you?

"Yes... I did."

"Ah. They are state of the art. I have given them every upgrade that I could, but that is not enough. With your reaper synthetic upgrades, my men would be equal in strength to the yahg! They would be unstoppable!"

Shepard struggled in his bonds. "I won't let you do that!"

"On the contrary, you are giving us that opportunity as we speak."

"I beg to differ."

Shepard pulled his arms with all his might so that he could break his constraints. His sheer strength combined with the reaper synthetics forced the constraints to begin to buckle.

_DANGER DANGER BREAKOUT ATTEMPTED. ADMINISTERING NEGATIVE REINFORCEMENT._

Shepard yelled as the constraints produced a strong shock. He continued to try to fight until the electricity got the better of him.

The voice laughed at Shepard's futile attempt. "You know, that VI just gave me a brilliant idea." Shepard watched outside as the scientists from across the room immediately stopped what they were doing and approached the console. "I want you to run the pain threshold tests, let's see how much those synthetics protect him." The voice commanded.

"Those men… the way they follow you… You are the Father aren't you?" Shepard pieced together, still panting from the previous shock.

"Ah how perceptive of you Shepard."

Then the shocking came back.

* * *

**WAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH**

"Here's your baby." Ashley thrust the crying child into Liara's arms.

Liara sighed. She had just gotten back onto the Normandy, and immediately the boombox was back in her hands.

"Shepard came by and acted as if he never knew where the baby came from. Did he hit his head or something?" Ashley added.

Liara tried to think over the crying. That was very weird of him. He loved that child even more than himself. Things were certainly up with him.

"I don't know." She answered.

"Ok, well I'm going somewhere nice and quiet."

"I don't think you'll ever need to do baby duty again." Liara smiled.

"Well I won't do it when she's crying ever again, that's for sure." Ashley laughed.

She left the captain's cabin and disappeared behind the door.

Liara tried desperately to calm the child down. After several failures, the baby put herself to sleep having finally exhausted all her energy. Liara was surprised that the baby could go that long crying without a break; she certainly had Shepard's strong determination.

The door opened and Shepard came into the room. Liara groaned, if he had come a few minutes earlier he would have easily calmed the child down and put her to sleep. Liara wondered if this was again all part of some plot to make Liara into a mother for the child.

"Shepard where had you gone?" She asked, trying hard to make sure he knew how tired she was.

"shhhh." Shepard spoke as the approached. He came up to the asari and put his lips on hers. It was clear that he was trying to make something else apparent as well.

After the kiss Shepard stood over the cradle and looked upon the baby, who tossed and turned in her sleep. "Just look at our beautiful baby." He spoke.

"Shepard, that's not my baby. You know that."

Shepard turned and eyed her seductively. "Then I think it's time we have our own."

The abruptness and randomness of Shepard's comment aside, Liara had been waiting for this moment for a long time. Without thinking, both came together and fell onto the bed. Shepard was aggressive, he seemed to be thoroughly enjoying it. Soon the clothes flew off and Liara closed her eyes and initiated the meld.

An unfamiliar feeling came over her as they melded. Liara felt like she was melding with someone that had never undergone a meld before. Images from Shepard's mind flooded her own, due to this supposed inexperience with melding, both received an overload of memories, emotions, and thoughts.

Images of their night before fighting Saren flashed through her mind. Then Shepard's initiation in the N7 program, and then him gasping for air as the Normandy was torn apart. Liara tried to direct the memories and feelings to something more recent or pleasant, but there was nothing after that, as if Shepard just didn't exist until this point in time.

Then suddenly Liara received memories that she had never seen before. Images of a lab and the feeling of waking up for the first time flooded her mind. She had seen Shepard's memories of his waking from the Lazarus project when they had previously melded once, and this was nothing close. Soon other foreign memories began to pour in. What looked like a researcher who wore a lab coat with a green and black stripe appeared, and then what looked like soldiers in black and green armor. It became clear rather quickly that even though this man looked and acted like Shepard to a point, he was not Shepard.

More memories began to flood in, but one struck Liara immediately. From the man's perspective, he lifted what looked like Shepard up and smacked him in the face. He fell to the ground unconscious. The human councilor was next to him, and ordered him to bind Shepard and take him to the lab in the name of the father.

Before any more of the scene could pass, Liara was ripped from the memory. It seemed that the fake was able to break off the meld.

The interior of the cabin came into focus as Liara came to. Before her mind could settle, a strong hand grabbed her throat and threw her into the wall. Liara gasped as the air became less of a commodity and tried in vain to tear the grip off of her throat.

Liara was choking and needed a way out fast. She hit him square in the chest with a biotic throw, and the man flew back, hitting the rail that was connected to the steps.

Liara quickly scampered to her feet and ignited herself in biotic aura. The Shepard look alike did the same; both threw biotic throws at each other, but both missed their targets. Liara shot a singularity and caught the man, but he froze her in stasis.

The man broke free from the pull of the singularity and began to laugh, a maniacal laugh like Jack had done. He lifted her in the air and threw her body to her right, smashing her into the wall. Before she knew it she flew over to the other side and smashed into that wall.

Liara was lifted into the air, and was wondered where she would fly next. Her vision started to get fuzzy and black around the edges, she knew she needed help.

Without explanation, Liara dropped to the ground. She picked herself up to see the reason why she had dropped; Shepard's armor locker was shooting out bits of armor at the man and he lost his focus.

"Liara I'm getting help." EDI advised.

Mustering her strength, Liara threw another biotic throw at the man. However due to her state, she missed and hit an armor piece instead. The dark edges of her vision began to block out her vision entirely.

The man began to laugh again, and Liara fought to stay conscious.

EDI was still there. "Liara hold together, help is com-"

Another biotic throw hit Liara in the head and she flew back into the wall. She could hear the doors to the cabin open, and the baby began to cry again.

"Liara! Are you ok?" Ashley's voice fought through the silence to her brain. Everything seemed to echo in Liara's head. "Turn around she's naked!" She yelled behind her.

She felt herself get picked up. "Don't worry Liara, whoever did this is gone. Everything will be ok."

* * *

**Author's note:** So all you readers are very lucky, instead of one chapter this weekend you get two! I had a lull in schoolwork recently and was able to get all my work done. Therefore I had more time to work on the story! SCORE!

Anyway, this chapter is kinda short, sorry about that. The next part is wouldn't do well to be in the same chapter as this part, so you'll have to wait til next week to see what happens with Liara! Hope you guys are enjoying the story so far!


	10. Chapter 10

**Author's note**: So last week I had finals for my classes. Not midterms, but finals. My school is weird that instead of semesters, I have quarters. Anyway, so the past week was a break week, and during this week I have been catching up on sleep (it was a LOT of sleep too). So forgive my lateness in my next chapter. I will be making it up to you guys.

Also, I have been slowly but surely fixing up my old stories as well.

* * *

Everything felt dirty. No matter what she did, Liara could not shake the feeling from her body. She let the water from the shower mix with her tears and trickle down her body as she sat on the shower floor. No amount of water would make her feel otherwise. She needed Shepard.

Liara heard a tap on the door over the sound of the water.

"How are you doing Liara?" Ashley's voice came from the other side. She had self-appointed herself as caretaker for Liara.

Liara sighed. Of course things weren't right. If the man she had bonded with earlier that night wasn't Shepard, where was he? Liara cursed herself for her naivety. The more she thought about it, the more obvious it became that the imposter had not been Shepard. She had only wanted to believe that everything was fine with Shepard.

"Better." Liara replied weakly. There was no use in telling them the truth; the only thing that would make things better was if Shepard miraculously appeared.

"Ok. I'm right outside if you need me."

Liara smiled at the fact that she cared and went back to listening to the water. Her thoughts drifted to the terrifying experience of realizing who she was melding with. Against her will her mind drifted back to the horrifying experience.

Liara shook the thoughts and turned off the shower. She let her body drift back to the corner and she looked over herself. Bruises had begun to form on her body from the fight. The feeling of uncleanliness still lingered, bringing her to feelings of guilt and anger towards herself. She was the Shadow Broker, she should have known.

Slowly she got up and took a towel and dried herself off. She grabbed her neatly folded clothes on the toilet and slipped into them. If Shepard were here, there would probably have been no need for clothes at this hour. Liara sighed yet again and wondered what was happening to him.

Once her clothes were on, she walked out of the bathroom and into her busy bedroom. The sound of Shiala crying immediately reached her ears, second to Tali's attempts to quiet it. Tali rocked the baby and sang quarian songs that were able to hold the child's attention. Liara marveled at Tali's attempts; they were better than anything she could do.

Occasionally frustrated grunts would join in the symphony of screams and quarian songs. Vega sat in front of the armor locker trying to fit everything in. Due to the large volume of armor pieces and Shepard's unique organizing skills, it was almost impossible to fit it all back in. Such a scene roused a smile on Liara's face.

In the corner near the bed, Garrus and Ashley stood inspecting a gaping hole in the wall. From the steps Liara could see that the hole opened up into the interior structure of the ship. Kal Reegar had gone inside to inspect any damage to the interior of the ship.

"Whoever that bastard was, he sure was smart." Garrus filled her in when Liara came closer. "When we came up to help you, he held us off until he was able to make this hole. Then he escaped into the interior of the ship, and escaped in our shuttle."

"My attempts to shut down the shuttle were met with an equally sophisticated program protecting him." EDI added overhead.

"So he's gone?"

"Yes."

Liara felt a little better after hearing that. Knowing that the ship was safe again helped calm her nerves; although she didn't think she could sleep alone in the room the next night.

After Reegar gave the all clear, the others covered up the hole as Liara watched and one by one they began to leave. Ashley and Vega decided to stay back and make sure that Liara felt safe.

"Thanks you two, after what happened I'm still a little shaken up."

"It's no problem Liara. That's what family is for."

Liara let that statement sit in her mind. Ashley saw her thoughtfulness.

"You don't have to be related to be family. After everything we have gone through, the Normandy is all family in my book."

Liara nodded as she contemplated those words. The baby had gone back to sleep and finally everything was quiet.

Liara hadn't planned to sleep at that time, but her body begged her to. The bed pulled her body in, and sleep came onto Liara's aching body rather quickly.

* * *

Shepard couldn't sleep. Seeing all the scientists at work outside his cell made him uncomfortable. If he fell asleep he would never know what kind of crazy tests they ran on him. If he knew what tests they were doing, he would be able to piece together what they are doing to him.

At the moment, the lab outside his containment cell was full of scientists mulling over reaper artifacts. Definitely not a time to sleep.

"Everything would be so much easier if you just accepted me."

The voice of the Father crept to his ears. Every time he heard the voice it brought a chill to his spine.

"The pain would stop, you would see the Normandy again."

The promise of the removal of pain was tempting to Shepard, but he knew the catch: the Father wanted him to have an implant installed within him. He never said what for, and for that reason it made Shepard reject it immediately.

"Never." Shepard spat out his answer and braced for the pain. Just as he had expected, a wave of electricity surged from his restraints. What he didn't expect, was that it was a larger dose. Shepard screamed in pain.

* * *

Liara woke from a troubled sleep to terrible screaming from the child. Vega jumped out of sleep. Ashley continued to snore loudly.

It took a few moments for Liara to will herself to get out of bed. One of the reasons she needed to find Shepard was so she wouldn't have to worry about this infernal screaming machine.

"That baby sure does cry a lot." Vega muttered. He turned to Liara. "Can't you just quiet her down? She's your baby."

"No, I'm afraid she's not my baby." Liara answered; a statement that she had grown used to. Despite her comment, Liara felt obliged to pick the baby up.

"It's almost as if she's in terrible pain." Vega watched the baby warily in Liara's arms. "I did not even know a baby could experience such pain."

A baby like Shiala definitely did not experience such pain. Liara began to wonder where all that pain must have been coming from. Shiala's connection to Shepard instantly came to mind. If the imposter was with her… that meant that Shepard must have gotten captured by the councilor. It was the pain that he must be experiencing, not anything that the child was feeling on her end. Liara put her hand to her head and sat down from the weight of the revelation.

"Doc, are you alright?"

"It's not the baby that is experiencing the pain... its Shepard. They're... they're connected."

Liara's realization sank it even more and it became clearer and clearer to her. Obviously Shepard got captured and was probably being tortured. Liara couldn't believe herself for missing it all. She was the Shadow Broker for crying out loud. Before she realized tears had begun to stream down her face and she was hugging the only thing that reminded her of Shepard rather tightly. The other two looked at her, wondering what they could possibly do.

"How could I be so stupid?"

Ashley sat next to the grieving asari. "Well we can't just sit here and feel sorry for ourselves can we? We have got to find him."

Liara nodded. "But where do we start? We have no idea where he could be."

"Well where was the last place you know Shepard was?"

"When he left for the councilor's office with Kasumi."

"Then we go there."

Liara put the baby down into the crib and called Traynor on her omnitool for babysitting duty. "Let's do this."

Vega jumped in excitement. "YES! Finally a fight!"

Ashley giggled and kissed him on the cheek. "You're so cute."

* * *

Shepard watched as scientists stood outside his containment area and took scans of his body. It seemed that the Father had given up trying to convert him to his cause, and the scientists had increased the number of tests that they had been performing. This made Shepard uneasy. Obviously there was something bigger down the road planned for him.

Lately he had been thinking of escape. He was getting used to the electric shock torture. Even though it still hurt, Shepard slowly gained the ability to have greater control of his body during a shock. Soon he felt he would be able to have enough control to yank off his restraints and break out. The glass that separated him from the lab did not seem thick; his heightened strength from his reaper synthetics could break through it easily. It was all simply a matter of getting out of the restraints.

Outside Shepard saw the head researcher approach his containment cell. Something in the man's eyes signaled that something was not going to bode well for Shepard. He knew he would need to get out soon.

* * *

Liara wanted to make sure that they would not be captured in the same way Shepard had. Because of that, several of the Normandy's crew occupied the shuttle with her. EDI was present to take care of any hacking they would need, Garrus, Ashely, and Vega were there to provide some firepower, and Javik was there to provide any insight on what happened with his prothean sense.

Liara wondered what the human councilor was up to. It was clear to her that he was the one that had taken Shepard but it was unclear why. Again she cursed her previous stupidity. Liara hoped that there was something in his office that would provide a clue as to where Shepard was.

Soon the shuttle touched down and the crew silently headed out into the night. Instead of using the public areas of the council complex, the crew shot for the maze of maintenance tunnels that ran beneath the offices. Without drawing attention to themselves, they headed into the tunnels.

"Keep a sharp eye out, who knows how Shepard got captured. There could be traps anywhere." Garrus advised.

Everyone agreed and slowed their paces. EDI led the way with her knowledge of the layout of the tunnels. The human offices had a maintenance access that they were going to exploit. All they had to do was hack their way in, and EDI had that covered as well.

Without incident they made their way to the access hatch. After a quick bypass they were in.

The office block had an eerie quietness to it. The hallways were dark and things were still. Slowly but surely and finding cover where they could, the crew made their way to the councilor's office.

They breached the room and split up. Vega watched the doorway for any hostiles. EDI and Liara went straight for the councilor's terminal. Ashley and Garrus combed the room for any tangible clues. Javik sat in the middle of the room and took in the room.

Liara was finding nothing at the terminal. She looked to EDI who had taken up a spot next to her. She shook her head; she had found nothing as well. Liara sighed. It seemed that unless Javik was able to pick up something this, their little adventure had been for nothing.

"Shepard was here but not for long." Javik stated.

"What happened then?" Liara asked, her eyes still fixed on the computer screen.

"The same thing that just happened to us."

Liara felt what seemed to be a rifle poking at her head.

Soldiers in strange shaped black armor with green lights were everywhere in the room, holding each of the crewmates at gunpoint. Liara knew that if they were taken in as captives to the same people that had Shepard it was not going to end well. They had to get out of this situation somehow.

Thinking fast, Liara threw a singularity into the middle of the room. The soldiers were strong and were not sucked into its pull, but she shot out the singularity for a different reason. For even just a split second the soldier's attention was diverted, but it was a split second in her favor. Liara knew what to do and so did the rest of the squad.

A mere second after the singularity had gone out, each of the squadmates dealt with their assailants quickly and efficiently. Soon several bodies floated helplessly in the pull of the singularity. A few bullets took care of survivors.

"We got several more contacts coming down the hallway!" Vega yelled from the door.

Liara and EDI ducked behind the councilor's desk. Vega took a position next to the door. Ashley took the spot on the other side of the door, and Javik and Garrus moved behind some other furniture.

More of the soldiers rushed into the room, promptly meeting the storm of bullets unleashed by the Normandy crew in cover. Out of nowhere, more soldiers seemed to materialize in the center of the room. Soon the room erupted into chaos as cover became exposed and bullets flew from both sides.

Liara heard something behind her, and found that several soldiers connected to rappel lines were right outside the window preparing to bust in.

"We got more company!" Liara yelled just as the window shattered.

"Then we need to leave... NOW!" Javik yelled. "There are more headed our way!"

Liara dodged a fist aimed for her head. These newly arrived rappel soldiers went for Liara and EDI, who had previously been able to maintain their cover in the recent chaos. Liara was able to hold her own, but EDI truly excelled at hand to hand combat. Efficiently she brutally took down her challengers.

"Follow me!" Ashley burst from the chaos and ran for the window. She jumped out and grabbed one of the lonely rappel lines, left behind by the soldiers. "Time we blew this place!" She beckoned for the others to do the same.

From her belt Ashley pulled some incendiary grenades. The rest of the Normandy crew got out and grabbed the other lines. As they climbed upward, Ashley lobbed her grenades into the room.

The lines did not reach an escape route, but they did reach another level window. The group had to keep moving, so Liara took the initiative and burst through the window into another office.

"They have got to know that we are on the floor above. We have got to keep moving." Liara took charge of the situation. "EDI do you have a layout of this floor? Is there a way we can get out of here without going a floor below?"

EDI processed the request for a moment. "The councilors have a walkway that leads to their councilor seat. It would be located on this level."

"Lead the way EDI."

The crew followed EDI as she led them out of the office and down the main hallway of the floor. At the other end of the hallway they could hear soldiers running up a stairwell to engage the crew.

Someone began to clap in an office that was adjacent to theirs. The human councilor emerged from the doorway clapping with a smug smile on his face. Time slowed down in Liara's mind as she saw the man who must have taken Shepard. The man who sent that imposter away with her.

"You must surely miss Shepard do you?" He spoke directly to Liara, taunting her. "I can tell he misses you, in between the looks of pain he gives."

Liara stopped her running and walked over to the man. "What did you do to my Shepard!?"

"I didn't do anything. The Father on the other hand…"

Liara burst into a biotic aura and pinned him against a wall. "WHERE IS HE!?"

The councilor seemed unfazed. "Right now, in your present location, you would be cool, not ice cold, but not warm either." He began to laugh.

Liara's mind filled with rage as she debated what terrible thing to do to him.

"Liara! He's just trying to hold you back until the soldiers come!" Garrus grabbed her by the shoulders and brought her back into reality.

Liara took a deep breath, still looking into the councilor's eyes. "I will find him, mark my words." She let Garrus pull her away, but not before sending a bullet into the councilor's chest.

The councilor's shield rippled where the bullet struck him. "The Father would like to see you try." He taunted back as the soldiers reached his position.


	11. Chapter 11

"Well that was productive. We know that the human councilor has Shepard and he's a crazy man. I wonder what he's put Shepard through." Garrus liked to go through a little personal debrief as he pulled off his armor in the cargo bay for repairs. "I wonder how many of those soldiers he took out before they got him."

"Don't talk like that Garrus, you're scaring Liara." Ashley advised as she ran a cleaning rod down her rifle's barrel.

Liara sighed. It didn't matter what Garrus had said; Shepard was constantly on her mind. In her mind she toyed with Shepard's current location. The councilor had said that she was cool with respect to Shepard's location. She was not warm, nor was she ice cold. The council complex was a rather large complex, taking up most of Bowen Island. That must have meant that he was in the general area.

"Shepard knows to take care of himself especially in this type of situation. Didn't he experience something similar when he was the lone survivor of Akuze?" Garrus pointed out.

"No, that was not Shepard; he fought those slavers on Elysium single-handedly." Ashley corrected.

"No, he killed all those batarians on Torfan." Vega stated confusedly as he pulled off his utility belt.

The three of them laughed as they realized no one knew much about Shepard's past. Although it wasn't their fault; Shepard never was one to talk about his past.

"Shepard's a mystery… What do you know Liara?" Garrus wondered.

Liara was just putting on her coat after slipping off her armor. She was in no mood to talk about it. "Not right now." She replied.

She left the room, letting the others to go back to their chatter as they took off their stuff. The craziness of the day weighed heavily on her. She just needed to relax and digest what had happened.

* * *

"Poor Liara, things just don't seem to go her way lately." Ashley commented after Liara had left the area.

"I can't help but notice that Shepard is always in the middle of the problems. First his renegade side, now him getting captured. You think Liara will ever have enough of it and leave him?" Garrus wondered aloud.

Ashley shook her head. "No... They are too devoted to each other for that to happen."

"But that devotion could break."

"I don't think you get it Garrus. When Shepard had a child with another asari did she leave him? No. In fact she devoted her life to finding him and fixing him. She forgot to eat and never slept, remember?"

"But look at how it... hurt their relationship. There has got to be a point where enough is enough." Garrus pointed out.

Ashley chuckled. "Garrus you do not understand." Ashley sighed. "When someone truly loves another it's unconditional. Partners might be disappointed in the choices their partners have made, but they will stick with them nonetheless. It's like that with Shepard and Liara. I think that Liara has proved her continued love toward Shepard even after everything that has happened."

"I guess you have a point there." Garrus muttered.

Ashley gave her friend a smile. "You will learn that soon enough when you find that special someone of yours." She gave his shoulder a friendly push.

"You think that will ever happen?"

Ashley laughed. "You were right next to Shepard when he did all his crazy feats, and you've done so much on your own. I'm sure that there are hoards of women of all species that would throw themselves at you."

Garrus could help but smile at that thought. "I guess we will have to see."

* * *

Feeling a little better, Liara headed immediately to the Shadow Lair. Tali was inside working hard at her console.

"Two of our agents that were investigating the human councilor were found killed. How did your infiltration mission go?"

Liara gave her a worn out look. "That councilor has an army. When we raided his office, his soldiers were onto us in moments. And there were so many of them... we are lucky we got out alive."

"Did you find anything? Sounds like he has something he's trying to hide."

"The councilor definitely has Shepard captive. That's for sure."

"Any idea where?"

"He's in the Vancouver area, but that's all we know."

"It's a start."

Liara shook her head. "But if we have nothing else to go off on, there is no way we can find Shepard with what we know right now."

Tali chuckled. "Liara, you forget that you are the Shadow Broker. You will find him."

Liara's hands curled into fists. "But with my resources it will take time. Who knows what they are doing to him!" She slammed her fists onto the console. "I want my bondmate back, and I want him to shut up that baby of his." She immediately regretted her little outburst and took a deep breath to calm herself down. "That baby screams in pain because Shepard is being tortured... it's nothing about the baby. It's... It's their connection."

"Keelah... Shepard must be going through a lot then."

"I don't even want to think about it."

The conversation died down and silence drifted between them. Both got to work at their respective consoles.

"Is there any way we could use that connection to find out where Shepard is?" Tali wondered aloud. "It's got to work both ways and there has got to be something that we can pick up on his end that could help us."

Liara wondered if that was the case. "I think it could work both ways. The late Shiala mentioned that everyone was connected."

"Then we need a way to access the connection."

"Not unless we can get into Shiala's mi-" Liara cut herself off as she realized where the conversation was headed. "You think melding with that child would allow me to access the connection?"

"You thought it up, not I." Tali chuckled. "It's definitely worth a try though."

"Easy for you to say." Liara scoffed. She had a hard time with that child without getting inside its head. Now it would be even worse. "We don't even know what it would do to the baby."

"I never expected to hear that from you. Since when did you start caring about the baby?" Tali teased.

"Baby or not I don't want to kill it." Liara stopped as she weighed her options. She sat down on the nearby stairs. "But if it will help me get to Shepard, that's important." She displayed a face of discontent and buried her face in her hands. "I don't know what to do."

Tali left her console and sat next to her friend. "The way I see it, asari should have some kind of biological safety to melding. I think it should be fine."

Liara nodded. "I like your thinking Tali. I guess it's time I melded with a child then." Liara spoke in a resigning tone.

"Just think of it as a bonding experience." Tali joked.

* * *

Without divulging any information, Liara pulled Shiala from play time with her aunts and brought her to her room. She sat down on the bed and placed the baby in front of her.

For a few moments Liara just stared at the baby. She was hesitant to meld with the child for the very reason that she was still a child. Who knew what the consequences would be.

Liara took a deep breath and picked the child up. Shiala smiled for Liara. Liara closed her eyes and prepped her mind not to impregnate herself from this meld.

Like any asari, the baby's mind opened up to Liara rather easily. Human minds were not built for melding, and as such they were more or less closed to an asari. The human mind would consciously have to allow thoughts, emotions, and memories to reach the asari bondmate's mind. This connection was a purer connection, with unfiltered emotions and experiences coming to her.

Liara knew that this open connection did not allow Liara to direct what was coming to her. Images of Shepard and the child came to Liara almost immediately. Such a strong emotion of love hit her as well. The love the child had for Shepard was a pure love, an unconditional and extremely strong bond of love. Liara could only hope that would lead to a memory from the connection that belonged to Shepard.

Just as suddenly as the experience had come it had gone; memories of herself and Shepard began to flash before her eyes instead. All over again Liara witnessed that first night together before Ilos, and then their reunion on Illium, and then even more romance before Cronos station. It made her feel exposed and embarrassed to see this. Liara wondered what else had leaked into the child's mind.

Again the experience was quickly replaced by another. Memories of herself and the child presented themselves to Liara's consciousness. Another wave of pure love hit her, and Liara came upon a realization: Shiala loved Liara with the same unconditional love that she had for Shepard, and Shepard had for Liara. In other words, Shepard's love for Liara must have also leaked through the connection.

Liara saw the mean things that Liara did to the child, constantly putting the child down and giving her to Shepard. Immediately she felt guilty for her childish and jealous behavior towards the child before. Shiala had really done nothing to Liara. Why was Liara justified to dislike the child on the notion that she is Shepard's daughter?

Again the thoughts and memories slipped through in the flow of consciousness. This new one was strange, and Liara had to shake the feeling that she was melding with Shepard. Or maybe she was. Liara wondered if this was something recent from the connection.

Pain and loneliness hit her consciousness and an image of a lab came into Liara's mind. Reaper artifacts were placed on assorted tables and she could see many scientists at work inspecting and dissecting the reaper artifacts. Liara knew where people would be studying reaper artifacts; close to the council complex was a council sanctioned reaper lab where they studied everything about the now extinct race of sentient machines. If the human councilor had the rest of the council under his thumb, it was plausible that he could be using this place as a base of operations.

Liara stopped the meld and was brought back into reality. Shiala lay in front of her and Liara looked upon her with newfound understanding. Shiala on the other hand, looked at her with exhausted eyes and began to suck her thumb. Liara took the baby and put her in her crib and let her fall asleep.

She began to hear chatter outside her door. She crept up to the door to try to listen in. Since she couldn't hear anything, cautiously Liara opened the door.

"How'd it go Liara? Did you discover anything?"

Tali, Ashley, Garrus, Vega, Chakwas, EDI, and several others were standing at the door. From the suspicious looks on their faces, Liara was sure that they had indulged in their curiosity.

"We just wanted to make sure that everything was… ok since you weren't sure if it was safe." Tali stumbled over her words like someone who had just been caught in the act.

But Liara didn't really care. "I know where Shepard is." Liara stated triumphantly.

The group followed her into the elevator. "Where are you going? Where is he?"

"I'm going to the Shadow Liar. If the human councilor has got an army, then I'm going to bring mine. We are going to assault the council reaper labs."


	12. Chapter 12

"The Father has great plans for you. Accept his offer of the implant will only serve to improve you… If you turn down his generosity he will not be so happy."

The head researcher's threat still rang in Shepard's mind. It was clear that Shepard had only one decision now: he needed to escape immediately.

Shepard had been cooking up an escape plan for a while. It went like this: once he had broken out of his restraints, he would don a disguise and free Kasumi. Then together they would access their databanks and steal as much information as they could so they had something to strike back with when they got out of the place. The labs were emptied every 12 hours and filled with a new wave of scientists. Every time the first wave left, it would take a few minutes for the next wave to start coming in. Shepard knew that if there were a time to break out, it would have to be then.

Calmly Shepard mentally prepared himself for the painful shock that would come when he would try to escape. The restraints that were around his wrists and ankles would shock him if he applied any type of force onto the restraint other than a gravitational force. If he were to break out, he would have to be quick, efficient, and strong to break out. Shepard was confident that he had all three.

Soon the scientists left their stations as their shift came to a close. Shepard started to get butterflies in his stomach; he always did when he was waiting to enact some plan. He silently wished Liara were there to ease the pain. When the last scientist left their station and disappeared from view, Shepard sprang into action.

Holding up his weight with his arms, with great strength Shepard swung his legs up in front of him, breaking the restraints and making contact with the glass enclosure, making large cracks. Immediately Shepard's wrist restraints began to apply their shock and Shepard fought to stay in control of his body. The pain began to become unbearable in his wrists, and Shepard fought to stay in control.

"I beat the effing reapers!" He yelled to add some motivation. It paid off and he broke on arm free of its restraint. Quickly he broke off the other and dropped to the floor. Shepard could see large burns on his wrists, but he didn't focus on them. He had to escape. A single punch finished the job and broke the glass.

Shepard realized that his cell had been soundproofed and it was rather loud outside the cell in the lab. An alarm blared, presumably signaling Shepard's escape from the restraints. It would only be a little longer before they realize that he had escaped his glass enclosure as well.

Unsure of where to run Shepard chose a direction and ran. He went to a short sterile white hallway with large double doors at the end. The hallway had one other door in it to Shepard's right. Quickly he debated which door to take. Shepard could hear the sound of multiple feet coming to the large door. Prompting him to take the side door in desperation. As he ran inside he could hear shouts come from the lab.

Shepard found himself in a locker room. To his left a guard stood next to the door. Shepard took him out before the man could react. The guard slumped against the wall.

"What was that? You hear that?"

Another guard called the incapacitated guard from somewhere else in the locker room. Shepard left the guard where he was and waited for the second guard to come around. He hid against a wall of lockers and prayed he wouldn't be spotted before the guard saw his friend.

Momentarily the guard found his friend. "Oh my god." The guard checked his colleague's pulse, then guard reached for his comm device to alert the other guards.

Shepard couldn't allow that. He came up from behind and put the guard in a choke hold and waited until the man was rendered unconscious.

Shepard inspected the guard's uniform. He wore all black armor with an identification badge attached to the chest. There was no head protection, only a hat. A guard's uniform could get him into many areas, but it didn't conceal his face. He would have to find a better uniform if he was going to get around the place for a prolonged amount of time.

Shepard swapped clothes with the man and explored the locker room for the other access point that the other guard must have been guarding. Without any trouble he found it and slipped through the door.

Outside the locker room the hallways were chaotic as soldiers and scientists rushed about in a mad search for Shepard. To avoid any suspicion, Shepard brought the brim of his hat down to hide his face better. Several soldiers ran past him into the locker room that the incapacitated guards occupied. Hurriedly Shepard made his way down one of the hallways to search for Kasumi.

* * *

It was done. Liara had prepared her shadow broker forces to assault the reaper labs. She would have to wait for her forces to get set up, and she decided that she should get some sleep.

The captain's quarters were mostly quiet save for some fussing from Shiala. Liara flopped onto the bed and curled up alone under the blankets. The fussing annoyed Liara, not because of the actual sounds of it, but because her conscience could not let the baby be alone like that. Liara laid in bed terribly conflicted.

"Goddess, why is this so hard." Liara groaned into the pillows. The child loved Liara like a mother. Liara's thoughts drifted to her own mother, Matriarch Benezia. Her mother was gone a long time ago, and Liara had felt the effects. In her nightmares Benezia would die over and over again, telling Liara how proud she was of her. Liara could not let a child experience the same grief as she had. Shepard's words formed in her head: the baby needed a mother.

Despite the warmth of the bed, Liara got out and picked the child up out of her cradle. Then she returned to the warmth of the blankets with the child. Without prompting, the child cuddled up against Liara's chest and gave a content smile.

Liara couldn't help but smile at the little bundle against her chest. Sleep and good dreams quietly claimed her shortly after.

* * *

"The prisoner is being kept in the old sub-basement. That's all I know I swear!" The guard spat out in full panic. Shepard held him against the wall, his hands on the man's armor.

Shepard loosened his grip on the man. "I believe you, but I can't have you running around telling people where I am."

The man's eyes widened as his imagination explored the possibilities of Shepard's statement. "What are you going to do to me?!" He cried.

"Nothing much." Shepard smashed his face into the other. The unconscious body of the man relaxed in Shepard's grip. He let the body drop to the floor. He shook his head at what he had done. This man was weak; he didn't deserve the violence that had come to him. But if Shepard had let him go, who would have known what the man would have done. Shepard didn't even have a weapon yet, so it was better to be safe than sorry.

Shepard left the body in the otherwise empty hallway. Signs directed him to the basement access stairwell. No one was around in that part of the base; everyone else was probably trying to comb the lab for clues of where Shepard had gone.

The stairs flowed into a brick-walled hallway. A lone soldier patrolled the hallway, his back to Shepard. The soldier wore the exact same armor as the soldier that had originally captured Shepard.

Quickly and quietly Shepard crept up behind the soldier and snapped his neck. This individual was dangerous and could possibly be the clone that Shepard had been knocked out by. He felt no remorse for this enemy. Shepard dragged the body underneath the stairwell and swapped his guard disguise for the soldier's armor.

The armor fit Shepard soldier had a modified Mattock assault rifle which was colored black and smaller. Shepard could not shake the feeling of a Cerberus type influence in the weapon and armor. What was stranger was that the helmets had no HUDs or even any type of communications device. Shepard wondered how the soldiers were able to organize and communicate at all, but it was obvious that they did it somehow.

Once he was all set, Shepard moved down the hallway. At the end of it was a single door. Shepard entered to find a small guard station that was connected to several prisoner stations. Three soldiers were in the room as well.

All three just stared at Shepard. Without speaking to Shepard, each soldier raised their gun at the new arrival. Shepard didn't know what was up. His disguise was perfect.

Shepard froze in place and waited for the other three to act. It was a tense moment as the three soldiers stood silently, their guns ready to fire at the slightest movement from Shepard.. Shepard surveyed his surroundings. Shepard stood on one side of a console in the center of the room. The soldiers were on the other side. Nothing else could really provide cover, so it was the only thing that he could use.

With his lightning fast reflexes, Shepard popped a shot into one of their heads. Then he dove forward and took cover against the console. Shepard didn't wait to see what the soldiers would do, and instead peeked over his cover. One of the soldiers was right on the other side. Shepard took initiative and grabbed the man. Since he didn't have his omnitool, Shepard instead dazed the soldier with a punch to the helmet. Then he grabbed the soldier's pistol and shot him.

That took out two of the soldiers, which meant that there was one other to worry about. Before Shepard could check the room, the final soldier tackled him and pressed him against the ground. The soldier lifted up his fist, and Shepard saw an Omni blade start to form.

"Oh no you don't." Shepard muttered, driving his knee into the soldier's groin. Shepard was able turn the tables and roll over so that the soldier was on bottom. Shepard wrestled with the soldier as he tried to get back the advantage. Shepard knew he could not go on forever and had to end it soon. He grabbed his opponent's shoulders, picked him up and slammed the soldier's head into the console. The force was enough to take the soldier out. Shepard collapsed on the ground as he panted from exhaustion.

After he had caught his breath Shepard viewed the corpse the lay next to. He moved away in disgust and went right to another one of the corpses, the one that he had shot in the head. Shepard could see that the bullet had gone right through his head due to the strength of the Mattock rifle he wielded. Typically Shepard would have looked away and pressed on, but Shepard saw something that caught his eye. It was something that should not have been there. In the soldier's head was an implant, similar to what Cerberus had done to their troops.

"Oh my gosh." Shepard exclaimed. Seeing the implants allowed Shepard to piece together the lack of HUD or comms in the soldiers. The implants must make some sort of connection between the soldiers. That's how they were able to tell that Shepard wasn't a soldier right away. Shepard quietly cursed himself for getting rid of his guard disguise.

Shepard got up and determined which cell was Kasumi's from the console. He collected his rifle and claimed a pistol from one of the corpses, holstered both weapons and walked into the room. The room was empty.

He heard a pistol engaged itself behind him. "You know, you must be some stupid guard not to listen to your colleauges when they tell you not to go in." Kasumi spoke behind him. Shepard felt the barrel of a weapon tap against his helmet. Shepard checked his pistol; Kasumi had taken it.

"Kasumi, it's me!" Shepard spoke. He took off his helmet and turned around to face her.

Kasumi lowered her weapon and eyed him curiously. Without any warning, she punched him in the face.

"OW! What was that for?!" His nose was bleeding, and Shepard grabbed the bridge of it to stop the flow.

"It IS you!" Kasumi exclaimed. "Sorry about that, they have a clone of you walking about and I had to check. If you were the other one you would have attacked me for sure."

"Apology accepted." Shepard grumbled, still holding his nose.

"Now what's the plan?"

"Well, we are staying here a little longer to steal some data, something I'm sure you'd love to do."

"And how are we going to do that?"

"Good question." Shepard chuckled. "I have no idea."


	13. Chapter 13

"We need a plan fast. Soldiers are going to be here any minute."

"But we took out the soldiers without so much as an alarm."

"The soldiers are all linked via implants. They know."

"Woah."

"We don't have time for that Kasumi, do you have any ideas?"

"We can do the same thing when we infiltrated Hock's mansion."

Shepard snapped his fingers. "Ah yes, that will be perfect, I'll just need to switch into my old guard disguise."

The sound of multiple footsteps coming down the stairs reached their ears.

"Well, they're here." Shepard threw a rifle to Kasumi that was on the floor. They took cover at the doorway that connected the room to the hallway, one to a corner of the doorway, and after letting the soldiers get far enough down, they let loose with their weapons. The first line of soldiers fell almost immediately.

"I know we won't be able to hold forever. Keep an eye out for an escape." Shepard fired a volley into the hallway. The soldiers there had no cover and fell easily.

Soon the soldiers began to use the corpses as makeshift cover. Slowly but surely they moved closer and closer to the doorway.

"Soon they'll get close enough to take out even with the cover. Hold your fire until then." Shepard planned. Instinctively he reached for his belt. It was for situations like this that he always had someone around that could lob grenades.

Soon the soldiers got close enough and the duo let loose their weapons again. However before they could make much use of them, their guns got red hot and jammed, obviously the work of an engineer's sabotage.

The soldiers got out of cover and held both at gunpoint. Silently both Shepard and Kasumi dropped their weapons and raised their hands as the soldiers surrounded them. Whether the soldiers would take them captive was totally up in the air. The soldiers did not speak. With the implanted link in their brain, they must be discussing what to do.

A soldier in front of Shepard motioned with his gun to start moving. Kasumi was given the same order. With several soldiers in front of and in back of them, Shepard and Kasumi moved down the hallway as captives yet again.

Suddenly the soldiers stopped what they were doing as if something had come up. Shepard looked at Kasumi and could tell that she was just as confused as he was.

Then the whole building shook violently. This could be their chance of escape. Quickly the soldiers regained their balance. Rifles nudged them forward, but at a faster pace than previous.

Again, the building shook vehemently. Shepard knew that the loss of balance would be the perfect time to strike an acted on it. Without hesitation Shepard spun around and knocked the rifle behind him out of the soldier's grasp. Then with his great strength, he kicked the soldier's knee from the front, causing it to snap in the wrong direction. As the soldier went down Shepard snapped his neck and picked up the weapon on the ground and proceeded to wipe out the other soldiers. Shepard looked to see that Kasumi had taken the initiative ad done the same to the soldiers in front.

They looked at each other and smiled.

"Just like old times Shep."

"Back then we knew what we were fighting."

"But it was always against the odds and we always won."

"I'd venture to say we are invincible."

"Nothing is invincible, but we are pretty darn close."

Both ran up the stairwell to the chaos above. They had a server room to find.

* * *

"Alpha Squad reporting in, Broker Agent T'soni. The lab entrance has been breached and we are facing heavy resistance."

"Good. Keep pushing; Delta and Beta squads will join you momentarily. I will be joining you shortly as well."

"Yes Agent T'soni."

Liara checked her weapon and looked to the smoke that came from the entrance of the reaper labs.

"I'm coming Shepard." Liara muttered.

She motioned to the others to follow and ran to the fighting.

* * *

The main hallway to the lab was utter chaos. Large squads of soldiers all headed for the entrance where the sounds of heavy fighting could be heard. Technicians and scientists darted about on their own personal missions. It's almost as if they didn't care that Shepard was loose. He knew that they had to know about it.

Shepard headed against the flow of soldiers in his guard costume with Kasumi cloaked close by. They wanted to steal some data so that they can get some intel on what was happening.

None of the doors had any room signs to help them in their quest for information however. Shepard theorized that due to the implants each soldier must have a layout of the facility in their brain. Everyone else who didn't have an implant probably wasn't allowed to be in the other rooms anyway.

In desperation they began to open every door to see where it went. They came across a plethora of rooms ranging from the scientist's barracks to dining halls and smaller sub labs. None of these rooms had anything important.

Finally they came to a door that opened to some stairs that lead upward. Taking the stairs, the two found themselves in a sort of circular server room for the lab network. In the center of the room was the base of a large antenna. Next to it was what seemed to be the main console. Server racks surrounded the main console and antenna.

Since the server racks provided an excellent hiding place for soldiers, first they checked the room for any hostiles, and then went to the main console.

Kasumi proceeded to hack her way into the console. Her superior hacking algorithms quickly gained them access. She looked at the first initial files, then let Shepard at the console.

"So not only is it broadcasting the station's network, but the antenna is also receiving data from an encrypted source." Kasumi informed him as he took the console.

"Can we find that source?"

"Not after some heavy decryption. We should download the data that they are transmitting to this location as well. If the location is encrypted, then this information should be important."

Shepard nodded his agreement and grabbed a memory unit from a server rack.

"I'm sure they won't mind if we borrow this. We can overwrite onto here."

He plugged it in and began to download the information. Kasumi became invisible and watched the stairwell for any unwelcome visitors.

* * *

"Garrus there's more coming in to the left! Ashley try to flank that cover with Tali!"

Liara was shouting orders in the midst of the heaviest fighting. The Normandy squad had joined the fighting with Liara at its head and was making slow progress. Liara also received updates from all other squad leaders in her earpiece. It seemed the other squads were having as much success as they were; barely any. There were just so many of the soldiers.

An unfamiliar voice interrupted one of the squad leader's updates in her earpiece. "What are you doing here?" It asked in a threatening tone. "Is it because I have Shepard?"

Liara was confused. "Who are you? What are you doing to Shepard? How did you get into my earpiece?"

A soft laugh answered her. "Forgive me for not introducing myself. I am the Father. How do you do, Liara T'soni?"


	14. Chapter 14

"I've heard of you, Father. What do you want? Why are you doing this? I will get my Shepard back, mark my words." Liara motioned to EDI to trace her comms. EDI complied with the request.

"It's not what I want from Shepard, but merely what I want FOR Shepard. But there is a problem."

"And what is that problem?" Liara stalled for EDI.

"Shepard is not in his cell at the moment, but I know where he is."

"Did he escape?"

The Father chuckled. "No, no one escapes from this building without my permission. Why don't you ask the person who is tracing my location? Shepard's with me."

Liara looked to EDI. "What do you have?"

"It's coming from a broadcasting station at the top of the facility."

"How are we going to get there?"

"If we continue to fight down the main hallway, the schematics in the council records show a stairwell that leads to the broadcasting station."

"Then that's where we are going."

Liara shot new orders to the squad leaders and informed the rest of the Normandy squad about the new development. She also ordered for the deployment of special shadow broker weaponry; dubbed the 5KStinger. The Stinger was a heavy machine gun emplacement that mobile and small. With these Stingers confined places like the hallway became deathtraps for the enemy. Two soldiers operated them, one at the emplacement, and another that controlled the movement of the emplacement. The Stingers were about the size of a smaller sized forklift.

With the stingers at their backs, the newly inspired shadow broker squads were able to advance against the waves of troops easier. Soon the enemy forces deployed explosives, destroying one of the stingers. The explosion killed some soldiers and wounded several more, including Garrus.

"It's nothing I can keep going!" Garrus yelled as he applied some medigel.

Liara deployed more snipers to take out the rocket soldiers. Soon things were going smoothly again.

But not smooth enough as time was against them. Soon the violence would catch the attention of the c-sec forces. Since the human councilor had the whole council wrapped around his finger, if c-sec came it would not be good for Liara and the rest of the crew.

"Oh I'm going to get my Shepard back, mark my words." The Father had begun to taunt her again. "Is he now your property?" He laughed hard. "You asari whore, now I really don't want Shepard to go back to his life of slavery. He said he would never give up the soldier's life."

"Shepard already has children."

Again the Father laughed. "I know all about Shiala. What makes you think that you weren't a one night stand as well?"

The amount of information the Father knew was discomforting. He really needed to get taken out before he could do any more damage.

Soon they reached the stairwell. Liara had her remaining soldiers cover the entrance so they would be undisturbed upstairs.

The Normandy squad rushed up the stairs and into the antenna room. A lone soldier stood at the console with his back to the stairwell.

"Oh goodness, you've found me." The Father taunted in her ear.

Liara raised her pistol at the soldier. "STOP! Get your hands off the console and behind your head. Turn to face us slowly." Very slowly the soldier began to turn.

The Father laughed in her earpiece. "Look ma, no hands! I can still talk and I can still defend myself."

Suddenly Liara saw a figure faze out of thin air in her left field of vision. The figure seemed to be running at her. Liara didn't think and let her reflexes take over. She fired a shot.

Liara's vision focused on the figure and to her horror she recognized the person whom she had shot. Words that the figure had shouted finally registered in her brain: "No! It's u-"

In slow motion, Liara saw Kasumi hit the ground. She did not move. By this time, Shepard had turned around enough to see what had transpired. Immediately he tore off his helmet and ran to Kasumi. He rolled her over and moved her hood back. Everyone saw the dead stare in her eyes.

Liara began to shake she slowly came to realize what she had done. She dropped her weapon and collapsed on her knees next to the body.

"Kasumi... I'm... I'm sorry." She managed to get out before breaking down.

Comforting arms, arms that she hadn't felt in what felt in ages wrapped around her. Shepard gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"Shhhh it's ok. She'sis with Keiji now." Shepard let go of Liara and picked up Kasumi's lifeless body. "Grab that." Shepard told Vega, pointing to the memory bank on the console. "We need to go, now."

Liara felt his hand gently brush her cheek. "We will give Kasumi a proper goodbye on the Normandy."

Shepard's words gave Liara comfort and motivation to keep going. She stood up and followed Shepard as he led the way down the stairs.

"Good job Liara." The Father taunted in her earpiece. "Too bad your reflexes were to shoot instead of to see."

Liara tore out her earpiece and smashed it on the ground. Using her omnitool he gave the order for her soldiers to disperse.

In the main hallway all was quiet, as if all of the Father's soldiers had simply disappeared. Liara knew a different reason, the Father was happy with his outcome.

* * *

"What do we do now?" Shepard asked the crew as they boarded the shuttle to go back to the Normandy.

"We need to get a doctor to look at Garrus' wound, that's what." Ashley spoke.

"I'm fine Shepard. It's nothing worse than my face." Garrus replied.

"Show us then."

Garrus hesitantly showed everyone his wound. His armor had been pierced and the wound had begun to bleed again since the small amount of medigel he had applied had worn off. If the armor was pierced, then he might have shrapnel is his body. It was clear Garrus needed to get actual medical attention, medigel could not help with shrapnel.

"Well Chakwas can take care of you." Shepard spoke, intent to leave.

"That's the problem Shepard, Chakwas is away at some council medical conference."

"Ashley's right and we can't just go to the hospital with an unexplainable battle wound. We can't let anyone know that we did this." Liara added. "If the human councilor has control of the council and they convict us of this, who knows what he'll be able to do."

"I don't think he'll be able to do anything about it so fast though."

Vega laughed from the pilot's seat. "You wanna bet?" He switched on the display to show a news program live. A reporter stood outside the wrecked reaper labs.

"No one knows exactly who perpetrated this terror attack, but the motive is clear: this terrorist group wants access to the reaper artifacts of mass destruction that are housed and studied in this facility. Thankfully, a new council military force was able to secure the facility and beat back these terrorists before they got anything of value." The camera then focused on one of the Father's soldier's. "Thank you Typhon."

"Shit. That limits our options." Shepard rubbed his temples.

"Were you watching the news as you pilot our shuttle?" Ashley asked Vega from the back.

"It might have been a nasty habit that I've developed. Piloting the shuttle is so boring." He answered.

"Maybe it's because you haven't crashed lately." Garrus joked.

"Are you complaining?"

"Not at all."

"So is there anyone we can go to?" Shepard brought the conversation back on track. "Garrus is priority right now."

"Oh I think I know." Tali answered. "Did you ever finish those dextro chocolates Garrus?"

* * *

**Author's note:** You guys must think of me as a big douche right now for killing off Kasumi. But let me explain myself a little bit. First of all, Kasumi will get her piece later in the story. I didn't just kill her off for no reason. I won't go into the plotwise reasons why she died, but merely the logistical reasons. No one is invincible, and if I had let everyone survive the story would have gotten stale. Just think back to From the Ashes (which I still have to fix up big time). Lots of important people died there. Also think back to Mass Effect 3. Same thing there. I also want to state that EVERYONE makes mistakes and its how we deal with our mistakes that makes us unique. I think you will rather enjoy the storytelling that comes next. I want to make the best story possible, so just bear with me for the moment. I'd love to hear what you guys think of the story so far!


	15. Chapter 15

Dr. Michel sat at her desk finishing up some paperwork. It was starting to get dark and there were no more appointments for the day. Ever since the reapers were defeated she had set up a clinic in Vancouver to help take care of the wounded. Once most people were taken care of, her clinic gradually turned to the elite that needed help that worked in the council complex.

Get bored of her paperwork, Dr. Michel turned her attention to the extranet on her console to find some very distressing news; reporters were talking about the latest in the search for the terrorists that attacked the reaper labs. Thank goodness that she was safely in her clinic in Vancouver proper; otherwise soldiers would be all over the place searching for the terrorists.

"What is happening to us all? Why is there all this violence?" She muttered to herself.

After watching a little bit she could not take it anymore and turned off the console screen. She pushed the paperwork aside and let out a tired sigh. She wondered if she would get any of the wounded from that battle.

Casually she wondered if Garrus, her hero many years ago, had been there to fight off the terrorists. She wouldn't mind operating on him for sure…

"Dr. Michel."

Michel looked up to see an unfamiliar asari in white armor at the doorway to her office. She had a submachine gun and a pistol by her side. Michel knew nothing of weaponry, but the asari was a formidable sight.

"Hello Dr. Michel. I am Dr. Liara T'soni. You don't know me, but you might know one of my friends."

Michel's eyes widened as Garrus hobbled in, held up by a female soldier she recognized to be Ashley Williams. Ashley had been with Commander Shepard when Garrus had saved her from those thugs.

"What happened to him?" Michel came over to the wounded turian and inspected the wounds on his chest.

"Garrus got hit by shrapnel from an explosion when he was fighting at the reaper labs." Ashley answered. It seemed that she recognized the doctor as well.

"I'll get to work on him right away." Michel rushed him to an open operation room and got some of her remaining staff to help her with the operation.

After about 30 minutes of prep time, Michel got to work. Ashley and the asari stood in a viewing room, giving each other periodic nervous glances that aroused suspicion. Michel administered an anesthetic and watched the turian fall asleep on the operating table.

Then she began the process of removing shrapnel that had pierced his skin. After she had removed the parts she would then have to stitch up the open wounds.

As she worked, an assistant came through the doors and spoke into her ear. "Doc, we have soldiers here to see you."

Michel looked up from Garrus to see Ashley and the asari companion give each other nervous looks. "Tell them I'm with a patient right now."

The assistant left and Michel saw the asari leave the viewing room and enter the operating room. "We can't let the soldiers see us." She whispered into Michel's ear.

"What do you mean?"

"Those soldiers can't know we are here."

"But didn't you fight together to stop those terrorists?"

The asari hesitated before continuing. "Doctor, I think you misunderstand... We were the ones breaking in. We WERE the terrorists."

* * *

Shepard hated being in shuttles. Just the fact that he wasn't able to see what was happening outside, as well as the fact that the shuttle couldn't anything stronger than a bullet was not to his liking. And yet here he was, waiting in one like a sitting duck for Liara and Ashley to get Garrus patched up.

Those reasons, combined with Shepard's need to stretch his legs a little more and take in some fresh air made him leave the shuttle. He opened one of the doors and took a step outside onto the roof of Dr. Michel's clinic.

"Shepard! Get back in here!" Tali called from the shuttle once he was outside.

"Don't worry so much Tali. We are on the roof… if anyone was walking by they won't see us."

Shepard plopped down on the roof and stretched his limbs out. He took a deep breath and let it all out in a content sigh. It was peaceful for the moment, and Shepard enjoyed looking up at the stars.

But the peaceful moment did not last long. Shepard began to hear movement on the ground below. Crawling to the edge of the roof, Shepard looked down to see soldiers encircling the building.

"What's hap-" Shepard raised his hand to silence Tali. The soldiers did not hear and continued getting into position. Shepard knew that things were about to go south.

As if an answer to his hunch, Shepard heard windows shatter and the sounds of a break in.

Quietly Shepard moved back to the shuttle, still hidden on the roof. "We have a problem, so everyone get your guns ready. Liara and the others in the building need our help."

* * *

Liara watched as Dr. Michel digested the information. Her face turned from serious to one of concern.

"Then what do I do?" Her voice had a hint of panic in it. It was clear to Liara that she understood the consequences of helping a war criminal, or whatever they were making them out to be.

Liara looked nervously behind her. "Do you think you can finish this work in the Normandy's med-bay?"

"I... I..."

The assistant came back to the doctor. "The soldiers demand to see you now."

Dr. Michel was getting overwhelmed. "Tell them I need 5 minutes more." The assistant disappeared from the doorway. "I... I need to sew Garrus up right now if we are going to move him." She pointed to a cupboard on the side. "Get me more stitches there." The hand that she had used to point with was shaking. Michel quickly tried to hide it and went back to stitching up Garrus' wounds.

There was a commotion from the hallway that the assistant had been in. Dr. Michel quickly looked nervously to the doorway. In a rush Michel went back to stitch up the open wounds that were left behind when the shrapnel was removed.

"Freeze!"

Michel stopped what she was doing and raised her arms in defeat. The soldiers had come too soon and she wasn't done. Thoughts of what would come next shot into her mind. She could kiss her precious clinic goodbye, and who knows what would happen to her after that. She was done.

But the other two weren't. Michel jumped at the sound of gunfire and dropped to the floor for fear of getting shot. Ashley and Liara had engaged the soldiers, taking out several that had already entered the room. Several other soldiers were able to take up cover and escape the onslaught. Soon the operating room turned into a shooting gallery.

"Keep stitching Garrus up!" Ashley yelled from cover. "We got you covered!"

Michel summoned her courage and stood up in the midst of the battle. In front of her lay an unconscious Garrus with open wounds that needed stitching. Her whole body shook from fear. Very slowly and carefully she began to stitch up the wounds. She wished Garrus were awake to save her like he had on the citadel. It was only a few thugs. This time there was ton of trained soldiers.

* * *

Ashley couldn't believe that the doctor was stitching up Garrus in the midst of a battle. She wondered how the doctor maintained her cool while she sewed up Garrus' wounds.

While the doctor was doing that, soldiers kept coming through the main double doors to the operating room. It was only a matter of time before they found out that there were other ways to get into the room. Getting tired of shooting down soldiers as they entered, she lobbed an incendiary grenade into the doorway. The explosion stopped the soldier's advance and flames erupted in the doorway.

"MY CLINIC!" Michel stopped her stitching to freak out at the flames that had taken root.

"Something tells me that these soldiers were not going to let you keep it anyway."

Michel shook her head and got back to work. This time however it was clear that she was nervous, and she fought to keep focused. Soon however she finished up the stitching and beckoned for someone to pick up the still unconscious Garrus. Ashley did the honors; slinging Garrus over one shoulder so that she could hold a weapon in the other.

The operating room had three more entrances, one for each wall. Soldiers began to pour in from each door; too many to fight. Ashley looked behind her at the fourth door. The flames from her grenade had spread and enveloped the whole wall. There was no chance that they would be escaping through there.

"Dead end." Ashley dropped her weapon, as did Liara. Michel's hands were shaking as she held them up high.

Soldiers approached and bound them.

One soldier interrogated them while they were being bound.

"Where is Shepard?"

Liara spit onto his helmet. "Why do you care so much about Shepard?" She interrogated back.

The soldier slapped Liara. "I am the one asking the questions."

Once they were secured the soldiers began to lead them away. Ashley looked for an avenue of escape, but there were just too many soldiers for just her and Liara. She hoped that maybe those in the shuttle above knew what was happening.

The fire had spread to the main entrance, forcing the soldiers to lead them down a hallway towards the back fire exit. The stairwell to the roof was also located in this hallway. The door to it was open, but Ashley remembered that the door shut on its own. She smiled as she knew the others were here to rescue them.

As the first soldiers of the group walked past the stairwell doorway, Shepard flew out of the doorway with omni blade activated into the soldier directly outside the doorway. As he flew into the soldier, he gunned the others nearby with the pistol in the other hand. Next out was Vega with a shotgun, diving past the captives and blowing the soldiers behind away. Tali was next, sabotaging the enemy's guns, forcing the enemy to flee for the moment.

Vega momentarily gave chase to the fleeing soldiers. This gave Shepard and Tali enough time to get the others into the stairwell to safety. Vega followed shortly after.

Once everyone got into the shuttle, they took off.

Ashley put Garrus down and sat next to a shaken Dr. Michel.

"Welcome to the crew doctor." Ashley slapped her shoulder.


	16. Chapter 16

For once the Normandy was busy. Shepard stood at the galactic map and took a moment to take in the busy floor. Since they were now under suspicion for the attack on the reaper labs, they couldn't stay in Earth's orbit.

"Where to, captain?" Joker's gleeful voice came up on the speaker. He must have been glad to send the Normandy through her paces finally.

"Hit up the engines and take us out of this system."

"Any system in particular?"

"Send us to the Exodus system. When we get there we will figure out what to do."

" Let's see what these new FTL drives are made of!"

The Normandy slipped out of Earth's orbit and engaged the new FTL drives. The star filled backdrop of the galaxy disappeared as the Normandy went into FTL speeds. It would be several hours for the Normandy to reach the nearby system.

"I think we are safe for now." Shepard stated. The galaxy was still rebuilding from the reapers, so there wouldn't be much response yet from council forces. "EDI, I want you to gather everyone together after I get some sleep. We need to figure out what's going on."  
"Noted Shepard." The AI answered. "Would you like me to send Dr. T'soni to the captain's quarters as well?"

Joker started to laugh at the pilot's seat and Shepard couldn't suppress a smile. "Yes I would love that."

"Send her my regards!" Joker teased as Shepard stepped into the elevator.

* * *

Shepard got into his quarters and proceeded to tear off his clothes. He flopped onto the bed and just let his body rest. It had been a while since he had done that last; the time he spent in the reaper labs felt like an eternity.

He heard to door to the cabin open and a new person enter. Shepard didn't even need to check who it was. Whenever Liara entered a room Shepard could feel her presence, like an aura. When she was in the room he was finally able to truly relax.

He could hear her chuckle as she saw him collapsed on the bed. Shepard heard Liara get unclothed and get in the bed as well. She sat on top of him and began to massage his back.  
"It's been a long day." She spoke as she worked through his tight back.

Shepard groaned from the pleasure of the massage. "It's been a little more than just a long day."

Liara laughed. "Well you are here now. I got you back." Liara continued to massage him, letting no spot of his body go unchecked.

When Liara got to his arms, she stopped. "What happened to your wrists?!" Liara asked, inspecting the large burn marks on his wrists from the restraints.

"They had me held in restraints Liara. If I so much as moved too much I got shocked… same thing with my ankles."

"Goddess..."

Shepard twisted in Liara's straddle so that he might face her. Liara picked up Shepard's left hand in her own. She brought it up to her cheek and then kissed it. Shepard brushed her cheek with the same hand and looked into his bondmate's eyes. His hand began to lower as the scene started to become more than intimate. But as his hand passed by her neck he couldn't help but notice the remnants of bruises. He sat up to get a closer look.

"What happened to your neck?"

Liara looked away briefly as she struggled against the memory of what had happened. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Liara I love you, you can tell me what happened."

"I... I..."

Shepard gave her a reassuring smile. "You can tell me."

Liara moved away a little from Shepard. "I... I melded with another man… And then he tried to kill me. He was a clone of you."

Shepard looked at her in confusion. "What?"

"When they captured you they sent a clone in your place."

"And you bonded with him?"

"He had acted weird, but it was during the bond that I found out that he truly wasn't you." Liara began to cry. "I'm so sorry. I feel so dirty because of it." She began to move off the bed to flee the scene.

"Liara..." Shepard quickly caught his bondmate. "It's okay! You did nothing wrong." He pulled her close to him. "I'm here now. As long as I live I won't let that happen to you ever again." He kissed her on the crest and held her tight.

Once Liara was calm they came apart. Both sat at the edge of the bed, listening to the calm hum of the ship in FTL.

"Shepard, how can I ever thank you for anything you have done for me?" Liara gave him a peck on the cheek. "No one has ever been so forgiving, or loving. I feel like I don't deserve this."

"That's nonsense. Sometimes I wonder the same about you Miss Shadow Broker." Liara smiled at the flattery.

"It's nothing compared to you, Mr. Savior of the galaxy."

"Ha! You forget about my previous rampage and how I wanted to kill you."

"So I guess this makes us even."

"Even?!"

"You sleep with tons of women; I sleep with another man to make it even..."

"Don't even joke like that." Shepard laughed nervously. "At least tell me I was the better of the two."

Liara pretended to think. "Well I don't know about that."

"Then let me remind you why I am." Shepard asserted.

Shepard leaned in to steal a kiss, but Liara held him there. Soon the couple fell onto the bed; a single entity twisting itself up in the sheets as they pursued pleasure and passion.

* * *

Like every quarian, Reegar had a fascination with ships. The Normandy was huge and small at the same time; it encompassed four public levels and yet everyone still knew each other on the ship. Species difference aside, the Normandy was just like a quarian ship.

Unlike most quarians though, Reegar was more inclined to warfare. He knew the schematics of weapons like the palm of his hand, but was almost clueless when it came to ships. He was concerned until his father had told him that it ran in the family.

Reegar found Tali hard at work at one of the engine room consoles with her back to the door.

"So this is where you work." Reegar introduced his presence and stepped inside.

Tali looked behind her. "Reegar!? What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to explore the ship, see the engine room for myself."

Tali crossed her arms and put her weight to one side. "Oh really? Is that all? I know you don't like engineering."

Reegar chuckled. "Well that wasn't ALL I wanted to see."

Tali giggled. "Oh Reegar." She grabbed his hand and pulled him to the console. "Want to see what I do down here?" Their hands did not let go. "But you hate engineering, maybe I won' then you came down here to see me so I should tell you about it or maybe you… Keelah I'm terrible at this."

Reegar laughed. "I'd love to hear to talk about what you do."

Tali clapped her hands gleefully together and pointed him through the controls on her console. "So we have to worry about proper levels that maintain the FBA couplings..."  
Reegar tried as much as he could to follow, but eventually he became too lost to focus. Tali on the other hand, happily explained her duties; Reegar realized that not many people came down here to see what was going on.

He tried to listen in some more. Apparently the Tantalus drive core needed constant maintenance to keep working, and Reegar struggled with the details. Then his mind lost focus again. Reegar was just happy that he made Tali happy.

Soon Tali finished her detailed explanation. "You are lost aren't you."

Reegar nodded. "I tried."

"I'm sorry. I hope I didn't bore you." Tali bonked her head. "I'm so sorry. I always do that... Once I just got started I don't stop."

"I wasn't bored though Tali." Reegar consoled. "You could be discussing anything and I won't be bored."

"I know something that won't be as boring."

Still holding hands, Tali brought Reegar to the ship core. It hummed and pulsed, giving the impression that it was like a beating heart. It was incredibly soothing and romantic as they stood there, hand in hand. Reegar put his arms around Tali and held her. Tali was right; this was definitely something that Reegar could get into.

Tali looked at him. "What do you think?"

"It's... incredible."

"When I need a place to be alone, I'll go here and just listen to the hum of the ship."

"I can see why. It's so peaceful."

Tali put her head on his shoulder. "If are looking for me and can't find me, I'll be here."

"Noted."

The couple let silence drift in as they each got lost to their own thoughts. Reegar let the core's pulses and hums sooth him, gently they beckoned him to sleep.

"Are you sure you like it?"

Reegar cut her off. "Tali, stop worrying."

"I just want to know if everything is alright. I don't want to mess this up."

Reegar laughed. "Tali just shut up."

Tali immediately went silent and Reegar held her in an embrace. Without speaking, Reegar took off his mask and put it carefully on the console.

"Reegar what are you doing?"

"Shhhhh" Reegar quietly took off her mask as well.

Tali's true face was shown, the height of quarian standards of beauty: black hair and deep gorgeous eyes were the main features on a purple skinned canvas.

Reegar gave her a smile, and received one back. Then he gave her a kiss.

"Tali, you don't ever have to worry about messing things up with me. Being with you is enough. I love you."

Tali smiled and without warning pounced on him, their faces coming together in a passionate kiss. The gentle hum of the engine core made the moment just perfect. Reegar never wanted it to end… And neither did Tali.

* * *

"Alright Gabby, we will take over watching the baby."

Ashley and Vega walked into the port observation deck to find Gabby Donnelly sitting on the floor with the baby. Mock engine parts and toy models were sprawled out all around them. The baby played with them and started biting on one of the models.

"What are you doing to the child?!" Vega looked horrified at the two of them.

"Well I thought I might explain how the ship we are on works. Shiala listened very nicely, didn't she?" The baby answered with a content gurgle and Gabby gave her a tickle.

"Oh no no no, little baby Shiala is not going to end up being an engineer... not if I can help it!" Ashley picked the baby up. "How about Aunt Ashley shows you what girls really do?"

"NO!" Vega yelled. "Please!"

Ashley gave him a stern look. "This lady needs to learn some proper etiquette. I don't think anyone else on the ship can do that here."

"Whatever you do, have fun with her! I have to get to the engine room anyway." Gabby left the three of them for the elevator.

"I think tea time is in order. Want to have a tea party?" Ashley asked the baby.

The baby started to play with Ashley's face, and so she took it as a yes.

Several of the baby's plush animals joined the party as well. There was the thresher plushie given by her Uncle Grunt, and the pyjack plushie given to her by her Uncle Wrex. Her Aunt Samara had given the child a tea set that her own children had used. If she had been on the ship she would have been a welcome addition to the party; she knew all the details of fine asari etiquette. Ashley only knew the details of fine weaponry; definitely not something suited for a child. Nonetheless Ashley would make an attempt to teach the child.

Once everyone was given proper spots on the floor, Ashley Shiala and Vega all took seats as well.

"Don't you think she's a little too young for this?"

Ashley laughed. "Best start early with the child... That's how they work right?"

"No I think she's too young." Vega stood up in his spot. "I'll just walk away."

Ashley shot him a look. "Sit back down if you know what's good for you."

Both looked to the baby who had proceeded to crawl from her spot and start gnawing on the pyjack's plate. The baby then fell back onto the pyjack, crushing it in its spot.

Ashley laughed. "Oh she is definitely her father's baby. Look at how she crushed that pyjack!"

"What are you talking about?"

"Back when Saren was still around, one of the missions we were on involved us having to get this data module from a pyjack. There were so many of them and they kept getting in the way of the mako, so Shepard went a little bonkers and just resorted to driving over all of them... gosh those things were annoying."

"What? No... The commander isn't capable of doing such a thing."

"You'd be surprised."

Vega just shook his head and smiled at the comment. He looked to the pyjack to check on the baby, but Shiala wasn't there. "Where's the baby?"

Ashley looked around as well. "Oh no."

Quickly the two jumped to their feet and started to search opposite sides of the room for the baby. As they searched, a pungent smell reached their noses, a smell that could only mean a dirty diaper.

"Oh god." Vega held his nose to shut out the terrible smells.

"Well at least we know that the baby is in the room. Go where the smell is the strongest!"

"I am not smelling for that thing. You are supposed to stay away from bad smells!"

"Thing?"

"No normal baby can drop a bomb that smelly."

Ashley laughed. "Well we shall have a word with the captain after he comes down from his nap."

They tracked the smell underneath one of the couches in the room. When they took a look, they saw Shiala holding something. Ashley reached under and pulled the child gently from under the couch. In the baby's grasp was a predator pistol. The baby was gnawing on the butt of the pistol, and her hand happened to grab the trigger...

The pistol let out a shot. The baby started to laugh and reached for the trigger again. Ashley pulled the pistol from the child's hands before she could shoot anymore. The baby started to pout in response.

"Where did she get this?!" Ashley engaged the safety and held it away from the prying hands. When the child realized that she wasn't going to get the pistol back, she began to whine and reach for the pistol.

Both checked their holsters to find that one of them was missing as pistol.

"Did she seriously just take my pistol?!" Vega exclaimed in utter shock. To calm the baby down, Ashley disengaged the thermal clips and handed the pistol over to the child again.  
Shiala happily took to gnawing on the pistol again.

Ashley laughed. "She is DEFINITELY her father's daughter." She carried the baby over to a changing table against the wall. "Come on we have to change her diaper."

"I am not going near that thing when you open that diaper."

"Oh quit being a wuss."

"I didn't sign up for this! I signed up to fight the good fight… and this is definitely not the good fight."

Without complaint Ashley opened up the baby's diaper and Vega held his nose. "How are you doing this right now?!"

"I guess I can see who is wearing the pants in this relationship."

Vega gave Ashley a look and took his hand off his nose. "Oh no you don't."

Ashley began to wipe up the baby and wrapped up the dirty diaper to dispense. Vega moved in. "I got this."

Ashley took a step back with a sly smile on her face. "Let's see how this goes."

Vega shot her a look and stood over the baby. First he took out a clean diaper. Very carefully he lifted the baby and slipped the back of the diaper under the baby. "Well, I guess it's not so hard."

Having been jinxed by those words, Vega was promptly peed on moments later by the child.  
Ashley began to laugh hard; the macho man that was her boyfriend was promptly shut down by a small defenseless baby.

"I GIVE UP!"

Vega stepped away from the baby and with one of the baby wipes wiped the pee from his face. "James its moments like this that I keep you around."

Vega grumbled to himself, mentioning something about the bathroom. He left the room. As he did however, Ashley called out to him. "I would have kissed you to make you feel better, but you still have some pee on your face!"

Outside the room Ashley could hear Javik's voice presumably speaking to Vega. Ashley began to laugh even harder, imagining what was going through Javik's head. Ashley finished wiping the pee from the floor and the baby and then gave her a new diaper.

"Nice shot kid."

Putting the child back in her clothes, Ashley brought her over to the couch.

"So while Vega is getting cleaned up, how about we pick out a story?"

Ashley opened up one of the children's books and began to read to the child on her lap.

Vega walked back in from the bathroom.

"Don't. Say. Anything."

Ashley laughed as a reply. Vega sat down next to the girls and listened as Ashley read the child a story. Ashley could still smell the child's pee.


	17. Chapter 17

Shepard awoke next to his bondmate feeling sore and tired. He rubbed his eyes and shook his head to try to force him to wake up. Liara stirred next to him, with a few days sleep advantage on him, she got up feeling refreshed.

Giving Shepard a kiss, she left the bed for the bathroom. Shepard groggily got up and headed there as well. A quick shower was in order, and after it Shepard was finally awake. Together both got dressed and walked to the elevator.

Once on the crew floor they walked to the port observation room to find Ashley and Vega asleep against each other on the couch. Ashley held a book in her hands, and Shiala was sitting on her lap also contently asleep. Shepard and Liara laughed at the scene and decided to give them all some more time to sleep.

The couple moved to the kitchen, where Dr. Michel was standing over Garrus at the kitchen table.

"Now Garrus please be careful, don't bend over too much or the stitches will cause you some pain."

"Dr. Michel, I'm fine!"

"Oh but I worry!"

"Doctor, I took a missile to the face was in full working order a few days later. I can take some stitches."

"What happened?!"

Liara sat down at the table while Shepard went to get their breakfasts. "I never heard about this story either Garrus."

"Well there isn't much to tell. When Shepard had joined up with me on Omega, I was holed up under fire from three gangs. We held them all off until finally a gunship came out of nowhere and hit me. Shepard took care of it though."

Michel held her hands up to her mouth. "Oh my goodness, what were you doing on Omega?"

"I was taking the fight to the gangs. I had a squad too. But we got betrayed and they all were killed; the gangs hunted me for a good while until Shepard showed up."

"Were you asking yourself to get killed? That was terribly reckless!" Michel chastised the turian. "No wonder you are getting all these injuries!"

"I did a lot of good though doctor, I gave these gangs all a major blow!"

"But you could have died!"

Shepard sat next to Liara and gave her a look. Her look mirrored the same thoughts. Could Michel have feelings for Garrus?

"At least my death would have been because I was trying to do something good in the world!" Garrus pushed his food away and tried to stand up. "I'm done with this constant bickering about the past. I'm going to bed." As he started moving he grabbed his side and sat down again. "Darn stitches."

Michel turned red. "You cannot complain. You don't know what I went through to get you stitched up!"

Quietly the Shepard and Liara ate their breakfast while watching the other two bicker over the past. Once they were done, Shepard took their plates to the sink and washed them.

"EDI, alert the squad to go to the shadow lair for a briefing on what is happening. And think you could broadcast the whole meeting out so that the crew can hear as well?"

"Affirmative Shepard."

* * *

Shepard stood at the circular console in the middle of the Shadow lair and he watched as his squad filed in from their respective parts of the ship. Once everyone had been accounted for, Shepard started his briefing.

"So I want to start out this briefing with some unfortunate news. We left Dr. Chawkas on earth at her medical conference. I've talked with her and she understands why we had to leave so suddenly. She has offered to be our eyes and ears on Earth while we figure this all out. To fill the void we have Dr. Michel on board for all medical problems. Be nice to her."

There was murmuring amongst the group but everyone gave Dr. Michel friendly glances in the shadow lair. She smiled back and gave a little wave.

"So you guys sprung me from captivity and even though we have fought this new enemy we still don't know anything about them. What we do know is that this organization is run by a mysterious entity known as the Father and that's about it. The media called them Typhon I think. We also know that this organization is pro human, maybe even to the point that Cerberus was."

Tali raised her hand. "What if this IS Cerberus?"

Shepard shook his head. "I don't think it is. The Illusive man was all about giving free will to his agents. That is not the case for this organization."

"How do you know that?"

"After I had broken out of my containment cell in the labs, I went to rescue Kasumi. In that room I had shot a soldier in the head, and the mess he made revealed that he had some sort of brain implant. The soldier never communicated with each other; their helmets had no comm device in them as well, yet they worked in perfect synchronization. I'd willing to bet that the Father is controlling them somehow."

There were some murmurs amongst the group as they digested that information.

"When I was in that broadcasting station I was downloading data that they were receiving from an outside source. I have given EDI the task of decrypting the information." Shepard looked to EDI's mobile platform. "What's your progress on it?"

"I estimate that I am about 83% there to full decryption. I advise caution with these files when you open them. If my estimates are correct, it seems that there is one massive file. It could be a virus."

Again people started to murmur amongst themselves.

Shepard turned to everyone again. "The thing is, we know nothing about this Father entity. We know nothing of his organization or what he is planning. All we know is that he is hostile, he is taking over the council, and he is labeling us as war criminals. We have no other choice than to open those files once we decrypt them."

"Shepard we also know that they have a clone of you running around." Liara added.

"That too."

"So once we get this data decrypted we could find out what they were planning." Garrus asked, his tone showing his confusion.

"Or it is just as likely that it is a trap." EDI mentioned.

"We are strong enough to deal with any traps." Javik proclaimed.

"Thank you Javik."

"What about Liara's shadow broker connections?" Vega asked. "Can't she use her agents to find out more?"

"I have sent agents into the human councilor's ranks, but I have been losing contact with them almost immediately. I theorize that those that join this organization are implanted almost immediately."

The crew discussed specifics a little more until there was nothing more to discuss. Having exhausted all their topics, Shepard had one more matter to discuss: a memorial service for Kasumi. They would be holding one soon to honor their fallen sister. After this everyone solemnly left the room. Shepard held back EDI for another word.

"What is the problem Shepard?"

"How much longer do you think you need to decrypt those files?"

"Not much longer... I estimate about 7 more earth hours."

"Alert me when you have done it then. I want to be there when you open them."

"Affirmative."

* * *

About seven hours later Shepard found himself back in the Shadow lair with Liara and EDI.

"I have finished with the decryption and am ready to open the files in a closed off data partition."

"Can you open it on this console so we can see what is going on?" Liara asked.

EDI complied, making her ship counterpart load the files onto the partition in that console.

"Alright, let's see what we got here." Liara spoke as she opened the files from the console.

The console came to life, and a small blue orb materialized on the holo deck.

"So you have opened my files." The blue orb lit up with each word. "I find it impressive that you were able to decrypt this information, as I was the one that encrypted it. I'm sure you were hoping for coordinates or information?"

"What are you?" Shepard asked.

"I don't want to tell you. Let's play a guessing game. You've met me before. In fact, I'd venture to say that we are past acquaintanceship now, aren't we Shepard?"

"I'm checking to see if we are receiving any outside signals." Liara began to work furiously at the console.

"There are none. This is coming from the data that we opened." EDI remarked.

"Ah Liara T'soni, how's your aim doing so far?"

Liara looked confused. "How… You are the father aren't you?"

"BINGO!" The orb taunted.

"EDI, can you run a diagnostic on the files? Can you make a check if we have a VI on our hands?"

Shepard looked to Liara. "Can a VI do this?"

EDI froze in place. "The files suggest a complexity greater than that of a VI. It seems familiar, but I can't determine what it is."

"A VI can't do this." The orb taunted. "I suggest you try again."

"Uh Commander, we are broadcasting some sort of signal, and we are getting a lot of nearby chatter from it." Joker's voice came over the intercom from the pilot's seat. "I'm trying to turn off the signal but I can't."

Shepard ignored Joker. "Then what can you be?" He demanded of the orb.

The orb was silent.

"WHAT ARE YOU?"

"He's an AI." EDI stated a matter-of-factly.

"What!?" Shepard shook his head.

"It's the only plausible possibility. Nothing else can be downloaded and require no other connection to perform the duties that it is doing right now. This must be a copy of the true Father AI, created when you initiated the download."

"That's how his signature was coming from the broadcasting tower! He was the very thing that was being broadcasted to the mental implants of his soldiers!" Liara theorized.

The lights dimmed and consoles randomly shut off.

The orb ended its period of silence. "Well now that you spent some time figuring out what I am, I managed to hack into your systems."

"We are having power fluctuations. Whatever you are doing, DONT DO IT AGAIN." Joker yelled from the cockpit.

"He is unable to access our core functioning. All he does is toy with our systems." EDI mentioned.

Shepard turned his focus back to the orb. "What are you doing?"

"Did you hear what she said? I am toying with your systems."

"Why? Why do this when it won't accomplish anything."

"Well I'm buying time for those that can accomplish something."

"At least tell us what you want! Why do you fight us? Why did you want me?"

The orb finally took a serious tone. "It is because you pose the greatest threat to humanity Shepard. You have so much, and yet you squander your power on other pursuits. You alone are keeping us from our greatness."

Shepard was speechless at that statement. The orb disappeared from the holo deck.

"He's erasing himself!" Liara advised at the console.

"I'm detecting a virus has been inserted in my systems." EDI mentioned. Her physical form went inactive as she began complex processes to fight the virus.

"Do not worry; I merely require all my processing power to fight this virus." EDI's voice advised from the intercom. The sight of her inactive body was quite unnerving.

"What did he mean?" Shepard sat down on the steps. Liara worked hard at the console. "I am the greatest threat to humanity?"

"Whatever he meant, it sounded like Cerberus." Liara put her head on his shoulder. "Can they be making a comeback?"

"I don't know..." Shepard sighed. "I guess you cut off one head, and other two tear you in half."

* * *

The Normandy began to pick up large signatures enter the space nearby. It seemed that they also had access to the same FTL technology that the Normandy was outfitted with.

"Ok now we have bigger problems... WHAT IS GOING ON?" Joker spoke into the intercom.

"Joker, we have no time to explain, just get us out of trouble." Shepard voice answered.

"Easy for you to say." Joker muttered under his breath. "Everyone to their stations!"

Soon the signatures presented themselves. Large Alliance cruisers emblazoned with the council insignia had come to the signal that the Normandy had been broadcasting.

"This is Alliance cruiser SSV Tokyo to Normandy. Surrender your vessel immediately or suffer the consequences. Your crew has been charged with conspiracy against the council and terroristic activities."

Joker didn't even bother to answer. He gunned the engines hard to try to distance the Normandy from the cruisers. He needed to get far enough away to be able to make a FTL jump without being able to be tracked. When any ship makes an FTL jump, it makes a distortion trail. The trail can be followed but decays rapidly, so pursuers have only a small window of time to get good readings.

"Normandy, surrender your vessel now or we will open fire. I repeat we will open fire. This is your last chance."

Joker went to work on his console, managing the Normandy's systems as it flew through space.

"Be advised Normandy, all offers are off the table and we are opening fire."

Several beams shot at vain at the Normandy. Several Thanix cannon beam shot past the Normandy from the cruiser flotilla.

The Normandy followed the orbit around the sun. Joker's plan was to get to the other side of the system's sun so the cruisers did not have a chance to get good readings on their FTL trail.

The Normandy's sensors indicated that the cruisers were following in pursuit. Being the large ships that they were, they did not have the speed or the maneuverability that the Normandy had. Joker smiled. This was going to be a cake-walk.

But Joker had begun to celebrate too soon. As they passed by Eden Prime, the Normandy's sensors picked up a swarm of new readings: fighters.

The swift fighters caught up rather quickly with the Normandy. With their smaller lasers, these single manned craft unleashed hell on the Normandy's shields.

Joker quickly reversed the engines to give the shields a momentary reprieve. The fighters did not expect such a maneuver and had to regroup to get back.

"That's why I'm the best pilot the Alliance ever had!" Joker yelled from his seat.

The Normandy shields were able to recharge in the reprieve and Joker thought desperately for a new plan. The fighters had the speed and maneuverability on the Normandy, so any strategy utilizing that would not work. What the Normandy did have as an advantage against these fighters was its shields and kinetic barriers.

Quickly formulating a new plan, Joker brought the Normandy at the system's sun. Joker got as close as he could and kept that distance as he flew in the orbit. Fighters that were pursuing the Normandy either had to give up the chase or were overcome by the sun.

"EDI, what's the status on our shields?" Joker asked.

"I am unable to process your request Jeff, I have encountered a problem."

"Ah Come on!"

Joker held the ship in orbit as long as he thought was safe. The shields were nearly exhausted but the fighters were left behind. Joker took a moment to wipe the sweat from his brow.

A thanix beam shot right past the cockpit window, and Joker realized that he had forgotten about the cruisers. The Normandy shook as one of the beams hit the Normandy's left wing, taking out one of the antiproton thrusters.

"SHIT!"

Joker worked furiously at his console to minimize the damage and maximize the Normandy's output. Joker brought the Normandy into a deep right bank to flee the cruisers. More thanix beams flew by, but all failed to connect.

The surviving fighters caught up with the Normandy and began to swarm it again. With the shields very low, the Normandy started to take kinetic barrier impact. Joker had no other options and had to flee as soon as possible. There was no way the Normandy could take any more of this. Joker made as much distance as he could from the cruisers. The fighters kept their pursuit of the Normandy.

"Screw this, if they want to come along, they can."

Joker set everything for an FTL jump minus the coordinates.

"Where do we go Shepard? I need coordinates now!" Joker asked desperately through the intercom.

Shepard replied immediately. "Send us to Omega; it's the one place that the council won't have a presence."

Joker punched in the coordinates and activated the Normandy's FTL drive. The Normandy shot out of the system, taking fighters close by into FTL with it. Those fighters in FTL were unable to cope with the speed and fell apart. Those that weren't were heavily damaged in the shockwave from the jump.

Joker relaxed in his chair and momentarily shut his eyes. Although the Normandy had been damaged, they were safe and on their way to Omega. Once there they would be able to repair the Normandy. But for now, everyone could rest. They were safe.

"You performed at 91.5% efficiency. Average pilot ratings in simulations similar to this event range in the 70s. You performed in the top .23%." EDI complimented Joker's skill.

"Thank's EDI."

"You would have had 99.9% if you hadn't let my wing get damaged."

Joker sighed with a smile on his face. Whenever EDI said something without noticing how suggestive it was it made him laugh at her innocence. "I'll try harder next time babe."


	18. Remembering a Friend

"I thought I would find you here."

Liara turned to see her bondmate at the threshold to the port observation deck. Kasumi had set up her new living arrangements similar to what hers had been before the Alliance remodel. Liara had been sitting on her bed, looking at the collection that her kleptomaniac friend had pulled together and deep in thought.

_Or at least, I was deep in thought._

"It's not your fault." Shepard moved into a spot next to her on Kasumi's cot. "Don't feel sorry for yourself."

Liara slowly shook her head and sighed. Shepard always had the uncanny ability to read her mind. "I pulled the trigger Shepard, it was my fault. I killed Kasumi." She shuddered as she uttered the confirmation. She was resigned to it. _There's no way around it Liara._

Shepard's arm slid around her torso and pulled her close to him. "You know, Thane had a saying to justify his assassin career. He would always say how he was the tool that his employers used to kill the target. In essence, Thane was a weapon. You were just like that. From what you've told me, it seems that the Father killed Kasumi."

Liara didn't want consolation. "It doesn't apply. He didn't tell me to do anything. I pulled the trigger. I killed her… my fault."

"But you didn't know!" He pulled her even closer. "How could you have known?"

Violently Liara shook her head. "No! I saw the look in her eyes as she went down... She blamed me!" She was on the verge of tears and she fought to control herself.

"But she also saw your face when you realized what you had done! She couldn't have blamed you."

"Why do you constantly have to think that I do no wrong? Shut up and let me have this on my conscience!" Liara was yelling now. "Comfort me! Just stop making me out to be perfect, Shepard!" Liara shouted. "I did it! I KILLED HER!"

Shepard immediately looked away and Liara regretted her outburst.

_It's the Krogan in me._

"But you _are_ perfect, Liara. And you didn't kill her no matter what you think." Shepard spoke.

A tense moment followed as both went silent. Then Liara lost control and collapsed into a puddle of tears. All she wanted to do was cry. Everything was going wrong. _Everything._

But strong arms pulled her from her sorrow and comforted her in an embrace. Desperate for some love, Liara threw her arms around her bondmate. Both held each other quietly, not wanting to ruin the moment.

Soon Liara's tears slowed, and she felt her heartbeat slow until it matched the steady beat of Shepard's.

"You are the most perfect, beautiful, kind thing in the universe. I knew that the moment I first time I saw you." Shepard whispered into her ear. "Don't you even _think_ otherwise."

Liara giggled in between sniffles. "So I'm a thing now." She teased, giving Shepard a little poke in the side.

Shepard smiled. "I'm on the spot here Liara, give me a break." They kissed.

Liara rested her head on Shepard's shoulder and they sat together in silence. The moment was a rare one on the Normandy; normally one could not find a quiet place.

"What are we going to do with Kasumi's stuff?" Liara asked. Her eyes felt wet from the crying, but she felt refreshed. It was interesting what a bout of crying could do for one's soul.

"Don't know. We _are_ keeping all of it though."

"Then what will we do with it?"

"I was thinking we spread the wealth; either we divide out the stuff to the crew or we just use it to decorate the ship."

"I like that idea. The Normandy could use some decoration." Liara lifted her head off Shepard's shoulder. "I want to be the one that does it, if it's all the same to you."

Shepard kissed her on the crest again. "Go for it."

The couple heard the door open and a nervous Garrus crept in.

"Is everything alright?" He ventured. "We heard yelling and then everything got so quiet."  
The couple laughed.

"Of course we are fine, Garrus." Shepard reassured.

Garrus relaxed. "Ok good." Then he turned to the doorway and addressed people there. "They're fine everyone." Liara could hear chatter just outside the doorway. Garrus addressed the couple again. "You weren't the only ones that wanted to pay their respects to Kasumi."

Tali was next with Reegar on her arm. Then Ashley. More and more people came into the room to pay their respects in this unofficial makeshift memorial service. Someone got to the bar and began passing around drinks.

Spontaneously one by one, the crew began to share their stories about Kasumi. It was inspiring how many people of the crew Kasumi had touched.

There were stories about the awkward things Kasumi just seemed to know about people, and all her pranks that she would pull on people. There were theories explaining how Kasumi got around, and others commenting on how she never slept. Liara could see that people were sad about her passing, but at the same time the stories were bringing everyone together. The full crew never really had much of a chance to have some time together since the end of the war with the reapers.

Finally all eyes came to Shepard and people began calling for a speech. Shepard stood up in the midst of the crew and nodded. Liara could see that he was slightly drunk.

"I can only wish that all of you that were there when I died all did the same thing as we are doing now..."

Liara looked away at the thought of her bondmate's first death. That had been worse. People had come together, but it wasn't to tell stories or be together, they were there to cry.

"We lost a dear member of our crew. I'm not going to say much because I think we all know how great of a person Kasumi was. She always wanted us to laugh and was so kind and gentle. Her pranks were legendary, and she knew everything that was needed to know on the ship. All these stories that we have been telling testify to that..."

Liara watched Shepard give the speech and she smiled. This is how Kasumi would have wanted to be honored; her friends all remembering her as the dear friend she was with a glass raised in her name. Kasumi had done her share of weeping, enough that she would never have wanted the same to happen to anyone else.

"It was a pleasure having Kasumi here, and now I realize everything I took for granted with her; now I'll never know the ship gossip anymore." Everyone laughed but Shepard did not smile. "Alright everyone clear out, we must be getting close to Omega now. And I'm drunk."

The equally as drunk crew members laughed and began to leave, all chattering and laughing about the stories they had heard.

Liara hung back a second. Shepard took notice and gently took her arm.

"Come on Liara, we got work to do."

"I'll be just a minute. Go on without me."

Shepard nodded and followed the stragglers out. Liara sat back down on the cot and sat in silence yet again.

_I'm sorry Kasumi. I'm so sorry._

In her mind she could see Kasumi forgiving her. Liara tried to imagine the situation to make herself feel better but she could not. Giving up she dug her head into her hands. She looked at the floor through her fingers.

There was something under the cot that caught her attention. Liara looked harder to see something that didn't belong. She picked up the object; it was Shepard's original dog tags, something that Liara had personal attachment to. A small memory stick was stuck to the side of the case that held the dog tags.

Curious as to what it was, Liara analyzed its contents with her omnitool. A small recording was the only thing on it, and Liara played it.

"Gosh, I do this every mission I go on, but you never know what happens right? Liara, if everything goes well you won't know that this was missing, and if things don't, then you will find this sooner or later. You're the shadow broker, I know you'll notice. That's why I'm addressing this to you."

Liara was in shock. She was hearing Kasumi's voice in the recording.

"Shepard and I are going out on a mission to break into the human councilor's office to find anything suspicious. It seems like a simple gig, but that's the thing: it's never a simple gig. I just wonder how it's going to become complicated."

Kasumi sighed on the recording. "If things really go wrong, I just wanted to let you know a few things. Before Shepard hired me that first time to fight the collectors I had been all alone. My work doesn't do well with relationships, and the only person I could trust and love had been killed. Then out of nowhere Cerberus contacted me and Shepard brought me to the Normandy. At first I was still alone, but I soon discovered that no one cared that I was a thief; instead I found a family that was ready to accept me. For the first time in a long time I had friends. I debated stealth techniques with Thane, I played pranks on Miranda, I would watch Jacob when he didn't know it." Kasumi giggled. "I had a lot of fun on that ship. It helped fill the void that Keiji had left behind. When I left it was sad, but I felt renewed. The Normandy had made me feel like a person again. Then after a little interlude fighting the reapers I am back on the ship. Before I used to wander and hide. But now this is the only place where I truly feel that I belong."

"So if things go wrong and I die Liara, know that I died a happy person. And know that I will be waiting for all of you when you die too. Just expect Keiji to be there as well." Kasumi paused. "And just to make things clear I was the mysterious cookie jar thief AND I was the one that had used the rest of Shepard's shampoo in the shower. But you can't fully blame me; you'd be surprised how many people sneak into your cabin to take a shower when you are not there... Anyway, love you Liara! See you when I see you, or when YOU DIE." Kasumi laughed. *click*

The recording stopped and Liara deactivated her omnitool. Conflicting emotions danced in her head quickly overwhelming her. She fought to stay composed again.

The door opened and Shepard revealed himself. He saw her and quickly came to her side again.

"What's done is done. We need to move on. We still have the Father running around the galaxy." He gave her his hand so that he could pull her up. "Let's go. You've spent enough time here for now."

Liara took it and let Shepard pull her up. It was moments like this that Liara knew she had chosen the perfect bondmate. Whenever she got down, Shepard would pick her back up and keep her going. She gave him a kiss on the cheek as thanks.

"What was that for?"

"You are always there when I need you."

"Well thank Shiala, because she needs changing."

Liara laughed. No matter what happened, everything else just kept going on. Quickly the couple rushed to the kitchen where people had started to complain about the smell.


	19. Chapter 18

"Shepard I need you as soon as possible at the pilots seat."

Joker asked for Shepard over the intercom. His voice seemed uncertain. Shepard immediately got up from bed and got clothed.

"Is everything ok?" Liara murmured sleepily. She yawned and rubbed sleep from her eyes.

"Stay in bed, it's probably nothing." With a click Shepard fastened his belt. After checking that everything was presentable, then went to check on baby Shiala. After judging that everything was in order, Shepard went to the elevator to find out what Joker wanted.

* * *

"What's the matter?" Shepard put a hand on Joker's pilot seat and looked at the console. It displayed a lot of readouts and technical information that Shepard didn't care for.

Joker pushed aside the readouts and pulled up a new display of Omega. Its available docks were marked in red.

"So see all of those docks? We can't get into any of them."

"What do you mean?"

Joker sighed. He pointed to a series of docks close to Afterlife. "See all these docks? Well the remnants of Aria's security force have these docks. They claim they will exact revenge for Aria's death if you come near them." Then he pointed to the cargo bays and mines. "These two areas are held by your very own Crimson Shepards. But they've changed their name since you have ditched them to Phoenix. They got a foothold and have been fighting for omega ever since you left them. They are not an option either." Then Joker pointed to the final area: the civilian sectors. "The Talons are holding the civilian sectors. They are our best bet for a dock, but I can't access their channels of communications." Joker threw his hands up in the air. "So I can't find a place for you to get in."

Shepard crossed his arms and processed the information. "Are we able to get anywhere else?"

"I was worried we wouldn't be able to make the jump with our damaged wing. I don't want to run that risk again."

"Understood. So we have to get repaired here or we are done."

"Yup. That's about it."

Shepard sighed. He had nothing at the moment. "Run through all comm channels and try to get to the Talons. In the meantime I'll try to think of another way in."

"Got it." Joker swiped Omega away and pulled up comm channels.

Shepard turned to EDI in the copilot's seat. "EDI I need you to run some life scans on a specific part of Omega. And get Garrus up here." He gave coordinates to Aria's bunker. She had a hangar installed not too far away that they could use. _Assuming that it wasn't overrun._Shepard tried to think of any other ways to enter. But his options were limited.

"Of course Shepard."

* * *

Garrus didn't know what to tell Shepard. "Sure I got around Omega but there weren't any secret tunnels or hangars that I had heard of." The way Shepard was talking it was as if he knew more. It was plausible that Aria had installed a tunnel network, she always was paranoid, but Garrus imagined that he would have at least run into it during his travels as Archangel.

"I am detecting a large presence at the coordinates you gave me Shepard." EDI advised him.  
Shepard was disappointed. "Look for anywhere that is empty then."

"The only areas I find are empty have no access to a dock."

"Then keep searching EDI."

Garrus was confused. _What is going on?_

"Shepard, what are you doing?"

"I'm trying to find a way into Omega. We need to get the Normandy repaired and no one is letting us dock a shuttle or even get_close_to the station."

So Shepard needed a way to get in. Garrus entertained his own ideas in his head. How do you get into a heavily fortified location?_You get someone inside to let you in._ That's the way it worked when Garrus had his squad infiltrate and take out illegal warehouses. That's why he was so successful at what he did. _There is always someone on the inside that will help._

"Do we have anyone on the inside?" Garrus asked.

"I worked with the Talons; they are a group in the civilian quarters of Omega." Shepard answered. "But we can't get in contact with them."

There had to be someone else. The Talons couldn't be the only friendlies on the station.

Joker perked up in his seat. "Shepard, listen to this."

Everyone gathered around Joker as he turned up the volume.

Zaeed's voice came up in the comms. "You can't just do that and run away you bastard, get back here!"

_Zaeed._Maybe they did have someone on the inside. Garrus saw Shepard smile.

"Is there any way we can contact him?"

"I'll patch you through right now." Joker typed some commands into the console. Shepard activated his omnitool. Garrus watched the situation unfold.

"Zaeed? It's Shepard."

Joker hadn't turned off Zaeed's comm channel. Garrus was able to hear the whole conversation.

"What the? Now you've really done it. I'm hearing ghosts in my head."

Garrus smirked and Shepard laughed. "It's me Zaeed. I'm no ghost."

"Shepard? Is it really you?"

"Yes it is."

"Hold on one minute then." Several gunshots came from Zaeed's side. "Alright, what do you want Shepard?"

"I need a way into Omega."

"I don't know how I can help."

"Well I do."

* * *

Shepard knew Zaeed wouldn't like it.

"So you are telling me that I clear out a dock?" Zaeed laughed as if Shepard's idea was a joke. "That's impossible. You don't know what they have guarding those things right now."

"It's either that, or we drill a hole in the hull."

"You see, I like that idea."

"Why?"

"Cause it requires no effort from me." Zaeed laughed. "How about this: I'll help clear out a dock, but you have to help."

Shepard smiled. It was rare when Zaeed would compromise. _Best take the offer while it was still hot._"I'll settle for that then."

"Good. Just give me the coordinates of the dock you want and I'll get right to work."

Shepard looked to EDI. "Which dock is the least populated?"

"There is a dock owned by Aria's old forces very close to Afterlife. It is lightly fortified but the downside is that it is close to Afterlife. The advantage is that it is also close to the civilian quarters. We have actually docked at that location multiple times."

"Let's do it. Send Zaeed the coordinates."

* * *

Garrus was interested to see how Omega had changed since he had last been there. Shepard had spoken very little of his adventure taking the station back, and then Shepard had killed Aria and united the mercenary forces when he had gone renegade._In other words, no more queen of Omega._He was very interested to see what the power struggle was like now.

Shepard had chosen Javik and Garrus for this mission. Garrus didn't really understand why Javik had come. Lately Javik just sat in his room and meditated. _He's lost his purpose now._

Javik was unusually quiet, choosing to look at the screens displaying the station than calling out inferiorities as he normally would. Garrus had heard that the station was originally Prothean. He wondered if Javik had ever been there in the past. _I bet the Protheans kept the station from being a shithole._

"So Archangel, ready to go back?" Shepard gave him a friendly nudge.

Garrus looked to Shepard and smiled. "Am I ever. I want to see what's happened to the place. Let's just hope there are no gunships around this time."

"Yeah, cause then I'll have to pull your ass out of the fire. _Again._"

"If the same thing happens again, you can be sure I'll be getting twice as many ladies as before. They dig scars."

"Well zero times two is still zero, Garrus."

Garrus smirked. "And here you are calling your mother a zero! At least I know where you got the trait now."

Both stared at each other threateningly and then erupted into laughter.

Javik threw his hands up in the air. "I don't understand. Why do you speak these insults if you do not wish to fight?"

"It's called a joke Javik." Garrus smirked. "We don't really mean any of it." _Well, maybe a little._

Shepard's omnitool lit up. Zaeed was on the other end. "Shepard, I've started my attack. When can I expect to get your backup?"

"We are almost there Zaeed, maybe about two more minutes."

Shepard stood up and took out his weapon and addressed his squadmates. "Alright get ready. The moment those doors open we need to rush out with guns blazing."

* * *

The doors opened and Shepard rushed out into the dock. It was a thin hallway with assorted boxes that could be used as cover. He dove behind some of that cover and peeked out.

Everything was still and quiet as if there was no battle. Shepard looked to Garrus and Javik. His confusion was echoed in their faces.

"Is this the wrong dock?" Shepard scratched his head.

A laugh that could only be Zaeed's came from somewhere else in the dock. "Oh no Shepard, you found the right dock." Zaeed walked into their sight. "You came a little late."

"We came right on time!"

"Well... I guess I could have saved some for you."

Shepard got out of cover and walked to Zaeed. Off to the left were several corpses thrown into a pile. Zaeed had been busy.

"So what's the battleplan Shepard?"

"We need to find the Talons and see if they could help fix the Normandy."

They walked down the long hallway that the dock connected to. Once they got to the end Zaeed stopped.

"You know this is the place where I first met you." He motioned to a corner at the opposite end of the dock. "I was never one to get nostalgic, but there it is. The beginning."

"I think he's getting nostalgic." Garrus smirked.

Shepard gave him a look to quiet down. Garrus shut himself up.

Shouting came from the Afterlife bar. Shepard checked the exit of the dock. It led right to the Afterlife bar. EDI was right; Shepard remembered using this dock extensively when he was fighting the collectors.

A large amount of soldiers were rushing out of the bar to the four.

"Let's move, NOW!"

Zaeed led the way, running past the soldiers and making a right out of the exit. Shepard followed suit, sprinting from cover. Shepard remembered this part. Once they had run down some stairs they made another right. This led them to an elevator to the civilian quarters. They hopped in and the elevator doors shut just in time for the enemy forces to fail.

The elevator started to move and everyone was able to rest for a moment.

Zaeed leaned back against the door and exhaled.

"So Zaeed, what are you doing on Omega?" Shepard crossed his arms and leaned back on the opposing wall.

"I took a break but you know I couldn't leave the fighting for long. I got work as a merc fighting for Brey's outfit."

"So Brey is in charge now…"

"Yeah, Aria had left him behind when she left for Earth."

"Interesting." It wasn't like Aria to leave command of Omega to someone else. But the last time he had seen her as a paragon there was a change in her. It made a little more sense than normal. "Those were your employers that were attacking us then."

"Well not my employers anymore. They wanted me to kill you if you got onto the station."

Shepard's eyebrows raised. "Oh?" Shepard was surprised that he wasn't dead yet. "So why haven't you attacked me yet?"

Zaeed laughed. "There is one loyalty that I hold over money Shepard. And it's partly because I want to be alive to use all my money that I have acquired."

Garrus laughed. "Do you ever use your money Zaeed? I have never seen you spend a single cent, yet you go after it like someone deprived."

"I need transportation, I need mods for Jessie, but I don't spend much." He smiled. "I'm saving it for the future."

Shepard wondered what Zaeed's future would be like. Once his imagination started exploring the possibilities however, Shepard stopped. Maybe he didn't want to know.

The elevator shook as it stopped at the civilian quarters. The doors opened and the crew stepped out to see guns aimed at them. Talon soldiers led them quietly out of the elevator.

"Who are you? What is your business here?" One particularly decorated soldier barked.

"I'm Commander Shepard, and I have come asking for help."

The soldiers looked at each other. Clearly they were impressed.

"Then what is _he_doing with you?" The soldier motioned to Zaeed.

"He's with me."

The soldier gave Shepard a long hard look then turned away to address his superiors. It wasn't long before he cut communications and waved the soldiers away.

"Our commander wishes very much to see you."

The soldier led the four further into the civilian quarters to their leader. With Nyreen gone, Shepard wondered who had taken charge. He hoped it was someone that would readily help, as they had been getting some rather tough breaks lately.

The soldier led them into a heavily fortified structure which Shepard recognized as the air filtration station. Once inside, the soldier led them to the now command center for the Talon command. The soldier excused himself and Shepard approached the leader.

He was very surprised at who he saw.

* * *

**Author's note:** So finals were crazy but they are all over now. I post more chapters as i write them.


End file.
